Lewis Hamilton claims Nico Rosberg crashed into him on purpose to “prove a point” and says the German openly admitted it during a post-race debrief with the team.
Mercedes bosses were already angry with Rosberg after both Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda admitted the German was at fault for the clash.
Speaking after a team meeting on Sunday evening, Hamilton revealed that Rosberg wanted to prove a point so chose not to back out and deliberately tapped the rear of the Briton’s W05.
“We just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose,” Hamilton said.
“He said he could have avoided it, but he didn’t want to. He basically said, ‘I did it to prove a point’.
“He just came in there and said it was my fault,” added a gobsmacked Hamilton.
“And you don’t have to just rely on me. Go and ask Toto [Wolff] and Paddy [Lowe] who are not happy with him as well.”
Hamilton is under no illusion that he was in no way to blame for the clash which he says was easy to avoid on Rosberg’s behalf.
“You know, and you can ask Fernando [Alonso] and you can ask all drivers, when a car is less than half a car length alongside you and you are on the inside, it’s your racing line.
“It’s not your job to go massively out of your way to leave extra, extra room. And it wasn’t one of those corners where there’s a wall there or anything.
“Look at Sebastian [Vettel]. He was actually further up [in a lap one move] and he knew he wasn’t going to go out the other side. He was sensible about it.”
According to the BBC, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has confirmed the comments to be true and it could therefore have severe consequences for the championship leader.
