w h at n e x t f o r h a m i Lt o n v r o s b e r g ?
Mercedes war escalates
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ercedes faces a near impossible task in trying to control the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, following their collision at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton and Rosberg came to blows on lap two at Spa as they disputed the lead – costing Mercedes a one-two fnish and leaving the way open for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo to win. With Hamilton ahead, Rosberg tried to go around the outside at Les Combes, but his front wing clipped his team-mate’s left-rear tyre. His own wing was damaged, while Hamilton suffered a puncture that put him out of contention. Mercedes bosses labelled the incident “unacceptable” and tensions further escalated after the race when Hamilton claimed that Rosberg told him he had deliberately not avoided the collision to “prove a point”. Although the team has talked of
but it is a racing incident. “If you watch the last races it has happened many times. So it is unfortunate. I understand why they may be upset because they missed a one-two result, but this is racing.”
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AN ESCALATING WAR
Contact ruined Hamilton’s race
consequences for Rosberg, and wants discussions with both drivers before it decides how to move on, there is little that can be done to avoid more trouble if Mercedes wants to keep the title fght open. When asked what Mercedes could do to control matters, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier told AUTOSPORT: “You can’t. It is unfortunate it happened on lap two
While there has been tension between Hamilton and Rosberg all season, the Belgian GP incident was the frst time they actually came together on track. Previous troubles – such as disputes over engine mapping in Bahrain and Spain, Rosberg’s run down the escape road in Monaco GP qualifying, or the team orders row in Hungary – did not boil over into an on-track collision. Talk of deliberate intent from Rosberg to not back out of the Belgium incident came after it emerged the German was still furious with Hamilton for ignoring team orders at the Hungarian GP.
Hamilton revealed that during a meeting at Spa on the Thursday before the race to clear the air after the Hungaroring events, Rosberg was seething that the team had not come down hard afterwards. “Nico expressed how angry he was,” said Hamilton. “I was thinking ‘It’s been three weeks and you’ve been lingering!’ He literally sat there and said how angry he was at Toto [Wolff] and Paddy [Lowe]. But I thought we should be good after that, and then this.” It is possible the fallout from Hungary, as well as the fact Rosberg was upset in Bahrain when Hamilton chopped across him on the exit of a corner, fuelled a decision by Rosberg to show he is not a pushover in wheel-to-wheel combat. Rosberg remained adamant, however, the clash was nothing more than a racing incident, and denied criticisms from Mercedes chiefs meant they blamed him entirely.
SuzukA 1989
AuSTRIA 1999
Clay Regazzoni/Niki Lauda (Ferrari)
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Ayrton Senna/Alain Prost (McLaren)
Mika Hakkinen/David Coulthard (McLaren)
Cooper/geTTy
BRANdS HATCH 1976
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Six FAMOUS TEAM-MATE COLLiSiONS
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After the first on-track clash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Mercedes has a battle