Lewis Hamilton admits he felt "quite disrespected" by how Mercedes dealt with his controversial race tactics in the aftermath of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton missed out on the Formula One drivers' title this season by just five points to teammate Nico Rosberg at last month's season finale in Abu Dhabi. As the championship slipped out of Hamilton's reach, the Briton unsuccessfully tried to back Rosberg into the chasing pack in one final bid to usurp his rival.
Believing the race win was under threat from Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes instructed Hamilton to pick up his pace in the closing stages. With the title on the line, Hamilton disobeyed team orders on several occasions, including when executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe intervened over team radio.
Speaking on the Channel 4 review of the season before a recent clear-the-air meeting with team boss Toto Wolff, Hamilton opened up about how he felt about Mercedes handling of the incident after the race.
"That was one of many uncomfortable moments of the year," he said. "Ultimately, seeing what had been said afterwards, I felt quite disrespected by the individuals who had spoken. You definitely don't expect that from those who are in charge of so many people."
Following the filming of the Channel 4 interview last week, Hamilton posted a video message on Instagram saying he and Wolff had patched things up during an "amazing" meeting in his kitchen, adding they would be the "strongest partnership" in 2017. Wolff commented that the meeting, which lasted several hours, had been "fantastic".
While Mercedes has since confirmed it will not punish Hamilton, the 53-time grand prix winner says he still feels uncomfortable about a number of incidents throughout the year, including his costly engine failure at the Malaysian Grand Prix in October, which led to his claims that "something or someone" did not want him to win a fourth world title.
"When you have something in your head, it's there. You think it can't be a coincidence that all these things have happened."
Reliability gremlins affected Hamilton's #44 W07 Hybrid on more occasions than Rosberg's car, which in contrast delivered near-perfect performance across 2016. This was an issue which frustrated Hamilton as the realisation dawned on him that it might not be his year, despite ultimately winning more races and achieving more pole positions than the German.
Another area which did not sit well with Hamilton was Mercedes' decision to swap several of his engineers and mechanics over to Rosberg's side of the garage ahead of the campaign, something he regularly cited. Hamilton said he plans to ask his team to not make any changes heading into 2017.
"Before next season, I'm going to say to Toto, 'I don't want these guys to be changed. Please just leave us to do our job.' I want to keep them all. There's not a single person who needs to leave."
Mercedes meanwhile, continues to deliberate over who will replace Rosberg as Hamilton's new teammate for next season, having confirmed there will be no announcement before January 3.