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.
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After the first on-track clash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Mercedes has a battle
debrief
after Belgian GP clash on its hands to keep control of its stars. JONATHAN NOBLE looks at what happens next
Nico Rosberg
THE SPECTRE OF TEAM ORdERS Mercedes said it would hold fre on working out how it moves on from Belgium until after it has spoken to
both drivers this week. But there appear to be only three clear options the team can take over the remainder of the campaign. It could decide the policy of allowing both its drivers to race is not working anymore and call off the championship hunt: making its leading driver in the standings, Rosberg, the clear number one. It could impose a strict code of
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“‘Unacceptable’ doesn’t put the blame on either of us,” said the German. “It means from a team point of view it is not acceptable and I fully agree with that – at all times we must avoid such incidents.”
conduct when it comes to wheel-towheel battles: calling off fghts at specifc points of the race, or outright banning any overtaking moves in places where there is risk. The other thing it could do is trust its drivers not to collide again. This could come with a fresh clarifcation about the consequences of repeat clashes in the future. Each option has its drawbacks.
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“‘Unacceptable’ doesn’t put the blame on either of us. It means from a team point of view it is not acceptable and I fully agree with that – we must avoid such incidents”
Making Rosberg number one would infuriate fans, as well as Hamilton, whose future beyond his current contract would certainly be thrown in to doubt. Having an overtaking ban, such as settling race order after the frst corner, would only serve to create fresh fashpoints that may trigger more trouble. And leaving Rosberg/Hamilton to get on with it again would not guarantee there would be no more crashes, particularly as the title race reaches its climax. For Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff, the build-up to the Italian GP will be critical to the fnal phase of the title fght, as he seeks to solve problems the team hoped would never come. “We have had a lot of controversy about the drivers, and about the team, but we’re at the point we hoped we would never reach,” he says. There is no easy way back now.
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Will Mercedes let Rosberg and Hamilton race like this in future?
Btcc KnocKhiLL
BTCC Knockhill (GB) August 24
Round 7/10 RESULTS race 1: 27 laps, 34.206 miles 1 MATT NEAL (gb) Honda (Dynamics) Honda Civic Tourer (S) 25m35.539s 2 ROB AUSTIN (GB) Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 (S) +0.230s 3 GORdON SheddeN (GB) Honda (Dynamics) Honda Civic Tourer +2.049s 4 MAT JACKSON (GB) Motorbase Ford Focus ST +2.350s 5 JASON PLATO (GB) MG (Triple Eight) MG6 +2.960s 6 AdAM MORGAN (GB) Ciceley Mercedes A-class (S) +3.829s 7 TOM INGRAM (GB) Speedworks Toyota Avensis +7.328s 8 ARON SMITh (IRL) BMR Volkswagen CC +8.340s 9 dAVe NeWShAM (GB) AmD Tuning Ford Focus ST +9.231s 10 NICK FOSTeR (GB) WSR BMW 125i M Sport +9.269s 11 ALAIN MeNU (Ch) BMR Volkswagen CC +9.997s 12 ROB COLLARd (GB) WSR BMW 125i M Sport +10.063s 13 FABRIZIO GIOVANARdI (I) Motorbase Ford Focus ST +11.731s 14 JACK GOFF (GB) BMR Volkswagen CC (S) +11.997s 15 WARReN SCOTT (GB) BMR Volkswagen CC +16.643s Winner’s average speed: 80.19mph. Fastest lap: Colin Turkington (WSR BMW), 52.348s, 87.13mph. Pole: Turkington, 51.705s, 88.21mph*. (S) = soft tyres used in this race. *Eight-place grid penalty, so Sam Tordoff (Triple Eight MG) started from pole position.
1 M JACKSON Ford (S) 22m36.360s 2 PLATO MG +1.637s 3 AUSTIN Audi +2.362s 4 COLIN TURKINGTON (GB) WSR BMW 125i M Sport (S) +3.669s 5 COLLARd BMW +5.193s 6 MORGAN Mercedes +6.777s 7 INGRAM Toyota (S) +11.206s 8 NeWShAM Ford +12.911s 9 GIOVANARdI Ford (S) +14.912s 10 FOSTeR BMW (S) +14.914s 11 ANdReW JORdAN (GB) Eurotech Honda Civic (S) +15.343s 12 SheddeN Honda +20.461s 13 JACK CLARKe (GB) Motorbase Ford Focus ST (S) +27.487s 14 NeAL Honda +29.897s 15 MeNU VW +29.904s Winner’s average speed: 84.06mph. Fastest lap: Turkington, 52.094s, 87.55mph. Pole: Neal.
race 3: 24 laps, 30.406 miles 1 COLLArd BMW (S) 21m21.475s 2 NeWShAM Ford (S) +6.083s 3 TURKINGTON BMW +6.294s 4 FOSTeR BMW +6.441s 5 JORdAN Honda +11.057s 6 SheddeN Honda (S) +11.495s 7 MORGAN Mercedes +14.501s 8 MeNU VW (S) +15.157s 9 INGRAM Toyota +16.962s 10 PLATO MG (S) +20.409s 11 NeAL Honda +20.862s 12 GOFF VW +21.145s 13 TORdOFF MG (S) +22.267s 14 CLARKe Ford +23.757s 15 MARC hYNeS (GB) MG (Triple Eight) MG6 +23.856s Winner’s average speed: 85.42mph. FL: Shedden, 52.283s, 87.23mph. Pole: Foster.
There was a lot thrown at the points leader in Scotland but he kept his head, as did some new 2014 winners. By KEVIN TUrNEr Had He not been Handed an eigHt-place grid penalty for a clash with Matt Neal at Snetterton, Colin Turkington would probably have won at least two races at Knockhill last weekend and extended his championship lead considerably. Having taken pole by 0.464s – as well as recording three other times good enough for top spot – the 2009 champion would, surely, have been unstoppable at a track he won twice on last year. But Turkington’s penalty and race-one start from ninth provided an opportunity for someone else to step up and take a hatful of points. And when the BMW driver was deposited in the gravel in race one, it looked as though his championship advantage would be eradicated in one afternoon. Fortunately for Turkington, none of his main rivals managed to put together the ideal weekend. That, along with Turkington putting in one of the drives of the season in race two, meant he left
Scotland holding exactly the same 23-point lead in the table he had when he arrived.
TURKINGTON ON THE ROPES Given Turkington’s pace advantage and edge in the points, it was obvious that his main rivals would be pretty desperate to curtail his progress in race one. Indeed, one frontrunner even suggested: “It is imperative Colin ends race one in the fence.” It put Turkington in an awkward position. “I need to be careful tomorrow,” he said after qualifying. “We’ve got a quick car and I want to make progress through the pack, but passing around here is going to be really tricky. “I’m not in the position I can cruise round and get points. Attack-driving but limited risk. It’s my job now to make the most of it.” After a subdued start, Turkington was soon involved in a battle for sixth with Jason Plato’s
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Collard led a WSR 1-3-4 in fnale
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207 190 143 133 126
pOiNTs sysTem explaiNeD In each race: 20-17-15-13-11-109-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 to top 15 fnishers. Additional point for being fastest in qualifying, and for leading a lap. The moment Turkington was shown the door
All Pics: EBREY/lAT
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race 2: 25 laps, 31.673 miles
Turkington’s great escape
race centre Plato escapes as Turkington sits in gravel after race-one clash
Shedden, Neal and Austin were all smiles after race one, but it wouldn’t last
MG and the Motorbase Ford Focus of Mat Jackson. As the battle got more intense and Turkington climbed all over the back of Plato, it started to look as though the MG driver was deliberately trying to back the BMW into the pack. But Plato had another explanation: “I had to go that slow to defend so heavily. I had to make sure he couldn’t use the advantage of the rearwheel-drive to get a run on me out of the hairpin.” Whatever, Turkington felt he had no choice but to make a move. “He was going really slow – we were practically stalling at the hairpin – and that kept me under attack from Mat,” he said. On lap 18, the inevitable happened. With a helpful push from Jackson on the start/fnish straight, Turkington fnally got by Plato into Duffus Dip. But he ran wide, forcing him to defend as they approached Scotsman. As Jackson attacked Plato, there were two simultaneous touches. The Ford rubbed the MG and Plato hit the back of Turkington as he turned in. The result was the BMW being
turned around and left in the gravel trap. “I spent half the race behind Jason and was extremely fair with him,” said Turkington. “I pass him and after one corner I’m in the gravel…” Plato reckoned it was the result of the concertina effect caused by Colin’s moment at Duffus Dip. “He went wide and I was cannoned into him by Mat,” said the double champion. “There was nothing deliberate, we just all closed up.” For his part, Jackson felt Plato had initially moved to defend from the Ford: “I think Jason moved to block me but hadn’t cleared Colin’s rear bumper.”
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES With Turkington in trouble, there were a number of drivers who could or should have been able to take advantage. The frst benefciary of Turkington’s penalty was Plato’s team-mate Sam Tordoff, whose fne qualifying lap put him at the front of a 22-car group
covered by one second. Somewhat surprisingly, the MG driver also beat the rear-wheel-drive Audi of Rob Austin away at the start of the frst encounter. He led for most of the race before the MG6 started to smoke. He was overtaken by the soft-tyre-shod Honda of Matt Neal just before the safety car was called for Turkington’s beached BMW, and then the MG lost power with a mysterious electrical issue. Although Tordoff fought hard thereafter, a 13th in race three was his best result of the afternoon. Andrew Jordan was another who fancied his chances in race one and the reigning champion needed a big result after his disastrous Snetterton weekend. The Eurotech Honda was running ahead of Neal when a clash with Gordon Shedden’s works Civic Tourer broke his suspension. Shedden had overtaken Jordan at the hairpin, but the hatchback came on strong as the race progressed. Jordan attacked at Duffus Dip and seemed to have the move made, but contact mid-corner was enough to send Shedden into a spin. And, out of control, the estate smashed into Jordan as he negotiated Scotsman. “We set the car up to be loose early on to look after the tyres,” explained Jordan. “That meant it was nervous over the bumps at the hairpin. “At Duffus, I felt a hit at the bottom of the left and then there was a massive whack in the rear.” Somehow, Shedden was able to carry on to take third. Given the moment also helped to set up Neal’s frst victory of 2014, it seemed the weekend would belong to the Dynamics Hondas. But that all changed in race two. Neal and Austin went side-by-side into Duffus Dip at the start, with the Audi running wide and losing enough time for Shedden to slot into second. As they arrived at Scotsman, however, Austin touched the back of Shedden and the Honda exited stage left in a manner not dissimilar to Turkington’s off in race one. The clash came after contact between the pair at Clark’s in the opener had sent Austin briefy onto the grass. “It’s a missed opportunity,” said Shedden, who remains Turkington’s closest rival in the points. “Having been off the track and come back on in a manner not compatible with safety, Rob elected to take me off. We should have won that race.” Austin saw things differently: “I can only assume Neal was trying to get me out of the way so Shedden could score better but it’s backfred because as I’ve come back onto the track I’ve had some contact with Shedden and round he’s gone. “The car’s been mega, but two wins have defnitely slipped through my fngers here thanks to white cars.” This could have allowed Neal to double up, but he had to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, so a potential Honda one-two became a 12-14. august 28 2014 autosport.com 57
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Neal took his frst win of 2014