Nico Rosberg is ready to put his latest feud with Lewis Hamilton behind him just days after suggesting he may consider holding clear-the-air talks with his Mercedes team-mate.
Hamilton and Rosberg failed to make it beyond turn four of Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix following a sensational collision which the stewards, and Mercedes for that matter, deemed a racing incident.
Naturally, fingers were pointing in the paddock after the race.
Niki Lauda, Mercedes' non-executive chairman, and Sir Jackie Stewart backed Rosberg, while Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion, and Rubens Barrichello, the Brazilian who has started more grands prix than any other driver, sided with Hamilton.
Rosberg, who holds a 43-point lead over Hamilton in the championship, was this week back in the Mercedes cockpit for the first of two in-season tests.
But in stark contrast to his frosty demeanour in the aftermath of Sunday's explosive race - one which was won by 18-year-old Max Verstappen, Rosberg revealed he was keen to put the fifth round of the campaign swiftly behind him.
"I don't even think about it any more, and for me it's way in the past, " Rosberg said.
"It surprises me that people are talking about it. For me, it's over."
The dramatic collision marked the first occasion in which Hamilton and Rosberg have taken each other out of a race since they have been fighting for the title, some 43 grands prix.
Yet the fall-out has been far more amicable than their first coming together as Mercedes team-mates back in Belgium nearly two years ago.
On that occasion, Rosberg, who despite the incident managed to finish second, was subsequently punished by Mercedes. Hamilton, in contrast, was forced to retire. Both drivers were immediately ushered to the television pen to give their reactions.
"He said he could have avoided it, but he didn't want to," Hamilton said of his team-mate.
The Briton added: "He basically said, 'I did it to prove a point'."
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, also attributed blame to Rosberg, describing his actions as "absolutely unacceptable".
But noticeably on Sunday, Hamilton, Rosberg and Wolff's views were rather more measured, almost as if a contingency plan had been put in place following that unsavoury day in Spa.
Wolff, who gave his opinion on the crash 30 minutes after the accident, did not take sides, while Hamilton and Rosberg, who were forced to report to the stewards after the race, did not address the media for nearly four hours. You have to wonder what they may have said had a dictaphone or TV camera been shoved in their face prior to their talks in the Mercedes' debrief truck.
Upon entering the team's motorhome to face the written media, Hamilton reserved a hug for Bradley Lord, the Mercedes' communications director, before saying he had apologised to the team for the incident, but not for causing the crash.
Rosberg, who it was later revealed was in the wrong engine setting resulting in a slower exit than Hamilton from turn three, faced the press pack next. He did not wish to accept blame either, but again there would be no accusations of wrongdoing.
Rosberg is now keen to put Sunday's events behind him, and Hamilton emerged from his social media shutdown on Wednesday evening to post pictures of himself back in training - a far cry from the wild party videos he uploaded in the aftermath of the Russian Grand Prix.
The Formula One circus now heads to Monaco for the most famous race of them all, and only then will we see if Sunday's spectacular collision really has been consigned to Room 101.
Source: PA
