Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has moved to clarify comments made by Nico Rosberg during a private team debrief, in which he reportedly admitted to crashing in to team-mate Lewis Hamilton deliberately.
Wolff dismissed comments it was deliberate, but confirmed Rosberg wanted to make a point by holding his line and forcing Hamilton to change course.
“Nico felt he needed to hold his line,” he told PA Sport. “He needed to make a point. He didn’t give in. He thought it was for Lewis to leave him space, and that Lewis didn’t leave him space.
“So they agreed to disagree in a very heated discussion amongst ourselves, but it wasn’t deliberately crashing. That is nonsense. It was deliberately taking into account that if Lewis moves or would open then it could end up in a crash.”
In response to a comment made by Hamilton that Rosberg would receive a ‘slap on the wrist’, Wolff said: “Well if Lewis has said that it’s going to be a slap on the wrist, and that there’s going to be no consequence, then he’s not aware of what consequences we can implement.”
The Austrian added that it was too early to decide whether or not to implement team orders in future races to avoid such scenarios.
“We haven’t decided that yet. I think it would be wrong 45 minutes after the end of the race to say ‘this is what we’re going to do’.
“I’m extremely upset about what’s happened today – not about the fact that two cars have crashed into each other, I’m very upset because we’ve defined rules all together and we’ve broken those rules. And I feel let down. Whoever it would have been, Lewis or Nico, I feel let down and the team has been let down. This is why we real have to analyse properly how we can do it better.”
