Ricciardo fight is one contest Lewis Hamilton won't take on

29 April 2016 11:23

One fight is enough for Lewis Hamilton at the moment.

The world champion, who admitted his task of catching Nico Rosberg amounts to one of the toughest in his career, has turned down Daniel Ricciardo's playful offer to slug it out in the boxing ring.

The Australian posted a video to his Instagram account prior to this week's Russian Grand Prix in which he took part in some pad work with his trainer.

"Would love to do this more often," Red Bull driver Ricciardo wrote.

"Great training and just good fun. Trying to improve my skills before hopefully a charity match at the end of the year."

Ricciardo, who signed off the post with a winky face, added: "I've asked Lewis. Hopefully he can be convinced."

So, would Hamilton, 36 points adrift of Rosberg in the battle for this year's championship, be interested in taking on the man from Down Under?

"Have you seen Anchorman?" Hamilton began when asked about the potential bout.

"It is all about their face and their hair. They are all about to fight the different TV groups and they are like 'rule number one: no touching of the face or the hair'."

Pointing to his face, the smiling Briton added: "So, why the hell am I going to risk this? It is helping me a lot with the ladies. I quite like my face the way it is.

"Fighting someone you don't like is easy, but I like Daniel so there is no reason to fight him. I'd rather just give the money to charity."

Hamilton has never been this far behind Rosberg in their three and a bit years together at Mercedes, but the Briton, bidding to join the elite few to have won more than three championships, does not seem like a man bereft with worry.

And why should he? The odds, whether it be poor starts, car problems, or collisions through no fault of his own, have been stacked against him in 2016.

Even Rosberg, looking to win his seventh consecutive race on Sunday, would admit that.

"I've been driving really well but my opposition had a really messy start," Rosberg said. "That's the reality of it. I definitely expect them all to bounce back, especially Lewis.

"It's going to be a great battle against them as always and it will be tough, even if I have some points lead now, but it's still such a long season - three races is a seventh or something of the whole thing.

"There's 450 points to take still and there's still a massively long way to go."

Source: PA