Reckless Rosberg

Once again Nico Rosberg was unanimously at fault for a collision involving himself and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

On this occasion it didn’t cost Mercedes too much, it cost them a one-two finish and it cost Nico Rosberg the race victory, but thankfully for the Silver Arrows teams, the damage metaphorically was limited.

The bigger dent was put in to Rosberg’s 2016 Formula One World title challenge.

Going into the race weekend in Austria, Rosberg held a 24 point lead and going into the final lap of the race that gap was going to be extended to 31 points.

However a mistake by Rosberg going into the first corner enabled Hamilton to catch his team-mate into turn 2.

The triple world champion took to the outside of the corner and got beyond his team-mate, but as the Brit cornered as late as he could without going off the road, Rosberg failed to turn in a deliberate bid to either make contract or run Hamilton off the track.

Hamilton took to the run off area and Rosberg had a second attempt at swiping at the Brit as he came back on to the circuit, but thankfully for both drivers they avoided a second contact.

Hamilton avoided any kind of damage whilst Rosberg lost his front wing, the ‘brainless’ move cost Rosberg a podium spot, whilst Hamilton took the win.

Paddock experts ranging from former Formula One drivers to team bosses all concluded that Rosberg was at fault for the collision, however Rosberg was not willing to accept responsibility after the race.

‘We were battling, and I was struggling a bit with my brakes and tyres degrading, and that gave Lewis a chance.

‘Nevertheless I was confident I could defend accordingly – I had the inside line. I went a bit deep into the corner but that’s okay, I dictate, but I was very surprised Lewis turned in. I’m frustrated about losing the win like that – I was out front, felt great and was going to win the race.’ he told formula1.com.

The FIA stewards penalised Rosberg after the race following the incident.

They deemed that ‘it was apparent that Car 44 [Hamilton] was in front and that Rosberg had not given ‘racing room’ to Hamilton and thus Rosberg ‘was responsible for the collision’.

The Formula One race stewards tend to give lenient penalties to drivers when they are caught up in inter-team battles, but despite this Rosberg was given a 10 second race penalty [which did not affect the result] and 2 penalty points awarded to his licence.

But despite the decision, Rosberg continued to argue that he did nothing wrong.

‘They gave me the blame, which sucks. I respect that, but I am of a different opinion. But that doesn’t help.’ he posted on Facebook.