Nico Rosberg’s dramatic crash with Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the Austrian Grand Prix will have no effect on his long-term future, his Mercedes team have insisted.
Advertisement
But after the pair crashed into each other at the Spanish Grand Prix and again in Austria, that approach is becoming harder to justify.
Wolff said: “In Barcelona, I was much more at ease because we had 30 races without a collision”.
“The only outcome is to look at all the options and one option is to freeze the order at the certain stage of the race”, Wolff said.
Lewis Hamilton insisted he had done nothing wrong after winning Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix following a last-lap collision with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton was nevertheless booed during the podium ceremony, at a venue where Germany’s Rosberg enjoyed predictably strong support.
The win, Hamilton’s third of the season, meant he cut Rosberg’s championship lead to just 11 points.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff is threatening to impose restrictions to prevent Hamilton and Rosberg from racing freely and in an effort to reduce the possibility of another crash. I grew up wanting to race the best and be the best by out-driving another individual.
“I’m fighting for a world championship so I’m going to keep fighting, and hopefully through these experiences there’ll will be no more collisions”.
“I just don’t want any contact anymore”.
“It was a great start and also a good first lap and straight away I could feel the pace was there in the vehicle”, said Verstappen.
“As you could see, I drove as wide as possible, within the white lines, so I left a lot of space”.
After being informed of Wolff’s comments, Hamilton replied: “Emotions are running high but it might not have been the best thing to say. From there on I did my own race, Kimi was catching fast but I managed to hold him off until the end”. He led early but dropped back to fourth after a messy pit stop that included a slow change of his rear tire.
However, a 10-second penalty did little to affect the outcome of the race, with Rosberg having finished 16 seconds ahead of fifth-place Daniel Ricciardo.
I can’t help but feel that while Hamilton wants to be like Senna, but instead the manner of his success has made him more like the new Schumacher.
Hamilton was attacking Rosberg, who had brake-by-wire problems, around the outside in the collision.
Advertisement
Of course he has an opinion, he confirmed as such, before saying “I’m not going to express it here”.
