Lewis Hamilton has accused teammate Nico Rosberg of deliberately hitting him during today's Belgian Grand Prix, claiming the German has admitted it.

Hamilton's claim follows a crisis meeting held by Mercedes following a controversial Grand Prix which saw the two clash on the second lap, the Briton suffering damage that was to eventually end his race and allow his teammate to further widen his championship lead.

Speaking after the race, team bosses Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda were both clearly angry, pointing the finger of blame squarely at the German saying that such incidents were unforgivable.

"Today we saw our worst case scenario when the drivers made contact on lap two and that ultimately cost us a one-two finish, said Wolff in the team's official post-race wrap up.

"It has been our clear policy to let the drivers race this year but rule number one is: don't hit each other," he continued. "To see that kind of contact, so early in the race, is an unacceptable level of risk to be taking out on track. It cannot - and will not - happen again."

"Lewis was in the lead, there's no question about it," Lauda told Sky Sports F1. "Nico was behind. Why in the second lap? Someone has to explain to me. Because if they fight all the way to the end and these things happen, they can happen, but not in the second lap.

"If he wants to pass he can pass him on the slipstream easily one lap later without danger and without risk. It was not that he had to do it because it was the last corner."

However, it was later, speaking after the meeting, that Hamilton dropped his bombshell.

"Basically said he did it on purpose," he told reporters. "He said he could have avoided it, but he didn't want to. He basically said, 'I did it to prove a point'.

"He came in there and said it was my fault," added Hamilton. "You don't have to just rely on me, go and ask Toto and Paddy who are not happy with him as well. I was gobsmacked when I was listening. You need to ask him what point he was trying to make."

In fact, Wolff attempted to play down the situation, telling reporters: "He (Rosberg) 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."

As some blame the Mercedes management for the situation, which now really does echo the dark days of Prost and Senna at McLaren, if it should be found that Rosberg did intentionally cause the incident he could face punishment from the FIA, the last thing the German team would want.

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Chris Balfe

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Robert, 29/08/2014 8:26

"To all the Nico fans or anti-Lewis supportors:

I would say, it's not even about supporting Lewis or supporting Nico, but I think everyone should just weigh up all the obvious evidence!
The obvious ones are that both Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda blamed Nico and were extremely anger! And most fair top drivers including Jenson Button put the blame on Nico! So we know these kind of biased so called 'journalists' will write any rubbish just cause a stirl!
Anyhow, I have been watching the video of the Belgium collision over and over, and clearly Nico never had even half a car length next to Lewis's car at any point, and not only should Nico had aborted the move, he also didn't need to cut back so quickly and so hard behind Lewis to make that corner! I don't know what everyone else is watching, but to me, Nico's second turn-in of his steering was deliberately more harder, earlier, and 'more deliberate' than necessary! In my opinion, Nico did it on purpose knowing that it was likely Lewis would have a puncture, which is obviously worst than losing a piece of end-plate on his own front wing!
The truth of the matter is, and Lewis heard it from the horse's mouth which was 'confirmed' by a Mercedes 'spokesman', Nico 'did on purpose' 'to prove a point'! Nico gambled because he was already 11 points in front of Lewis, and he won his gamble! As one steward said, it's was a 'cunning' drive/move (you would expect from a ruthless driver, or what I would call unsporting or 'cheating')!
And honestly, I don't know how the steward can even call a 10 second review of the Belgium collision to be a fair review because we're talking about title contenders, not Alonso and Magnussen or someone else down the field, and also it's very high stakes now, as we are closing nearer to the conclusion of the Championship!!!
I hope the stewards at all future races will take this more seriously, I really do, because in my opinion, if the ones at Belgium did their jobs 'more thoroughly', then none of us now would feel the results there were as 'unfair' as it was!?"

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2. Posted by Robert, 25/08/2014 16:01

"I will 'bet' that wee young Max Verstappen racing in orange next year will be just like any other young upstart, or perhaps even worst, and he will be a frequent 'crasher' for at least a couple of years before he even begins to understand what racing in F1 is all about!

Daniel Ricciardo is doing well this year because he already has a few years' experience in F1, and he has also benefited from the new regulations which is negating most drivers of their experience of previous cars, and thus acting as a leveller, as Vettel has found!

Daniel Ricciardo is possibly a champion of the future, if fate is in his favour, with a great car and a good team!?
"

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3. Posted by lunadimonza, 25/08/2014 13:14

"Dear all
This has got us talking. which I rarely do on the subject of F!, which I love. For many reasons.

Keep your British booing for your football terraces. You have introduced viscous sectarianism to yet another sport.

These guys are racers and entertainers. Welcome to the world of Showbiz that is F1. They wear expensive watches and don caps to take their place on the podium. Some of them even wear diamond earrings in both ears and branded sunglasses. For the cameras.

I don't know what F1 is morphing into. But I do know my stuff. Robert is right and it is 2014. Jackie Stewart was the driver who introduced safety. I cannot believe that some people might think that there is a conspiracy theory. The FIA might be incompetent, sometimes, but you try doing business with some of the most corrupt nations and multi- national companies in the world. It's tough out there chaps.

Nico and Lewis are great racers. Both of them.
Heres a conundrum for you. Young Max Verstappen. Racing in orange I hope next year.

"

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4. Posted by f1khun, 25/08/2014 13:11

"@Robert

You made your point twice, and its silly.
Rest assured that Lewis knew that Nico was there, and he chose to make sure that Nico did not have space to go. Of course, Nico did the same, despite being not in front, he tried to pass Lewis and he could have seen coming that the door would be closed.

If you are locked in a battle with your opponent that tells you the previous race that you did not try hard enough, then yes: all gloves come of. The world championship is at stake, nothing less. Its not clever, no. But this wasn't an attempt to do anything outlandish other then making the point that Lewis asked for himself.

Lewis and Nico are different racers; Nico in my opinion is more technical, methodical. I think he treats his car just a tad better and as a result, has less mechanical issues. Lewis does everything with his heart and his passion; and as a result, when it doesn't come his way, his head goes down.

They clashed a few times already and only the clever of the two will be WDC. I do not care who it will be, as long as they are truly winning on merit and not by accident. And no, you cannot touch another car in F1 and know the exact outcome will benefit YOU and not the other guy. So, nobody is touching another guy on purpose; that would be suicide.

Robert, your opinion matters but your accusations lack in depth understanding of what a racer is and does, and what F1 is about and what actually happened; try to see it from both ways."

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5. Posted by Robert, 25/08/2014 10:48 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 25/08/2014 13:00)

"My opinion is that, from his own 'admission', it's now so obviously clear to everybody and the world that nico rosberg is extremely unsporting 'in causing a collision' in today's belgium race that the fia should immediately investigate and sanction nico as necessary for the good of the sport, and personally speaking, i would go as far as calling nico 'something of a cheat' as it's now also obviously clear to everybody and the world that nico did delibrately 'faked' his qualifying 'error' in monaco in q3 so that lewis hamilton could not do his final qualifying lap for pole!
Finally, in my opinion, i truly believe that lewis should really watch that his equipment isn't tampered with by nico's 'personnel' and also that the fia should appoint an independent observer into the mercedes team to ensure that lewis gets equal equipment and fair treatment in the team (like fernando alonso had in mclaren in 2007)!
This is my personal opinion as a formula 1 fan for the last 30 years, and to me, the fia has not been completely fair to lewis from day one, however, it's never too late for the fia to start being fair starting right now!
"

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6. Posted by Robert, 25/08/2014 10:43

"For all those people still living in the past and comparing what happened 10, 20, and even 30 years ago - like Senna and Prost, THIS IS 2014!!! We now have more rules and regulations for sporting behaviour, as well as for safety too!!!

IN TODAY'S F1, it is NOT alright to try and 'make a point' by deliberately NOT avoiding a collision and NOT backing out of a risky and impossible overtaking move when the other driver is clearly almost a full car in front! This collision could had killed somebody, and it's also against the FIA regulations and Nico should be punished!!!

So Nico should be booed and should be BANNED!"

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7. Posted by lunadimonza, 25/08/2014 10:19

"Good Morning. Call it Bank Holiday fever. Call it Brits abroad

I am ashamed of the booers. I sincerely hope that none of you bad losers are fans of this site. If you are then listen on. This is a high octane sport. I recall Silverstone in 1993 when very few of them could be bothered to stand up and applaud Alain Prost. They laughed when Michael broke his leg in 1999. Yeah,they actually thought that it was funny. For those of you who never saw Jean Alesi in the rain you are missing out. You think you know F1. You have no idea.

Mind you, Jean was a Frenchman. Actually French Sicillian. Foreigner, boo him as well. Jim Clark, would they boo him now? A Scotsman.

Very few of the booers in the crowd would recognise Nelson Piiquet, Senna, Berger, Larini, Tarquini, Patrese. I could go on. These are top class racers as Rosberg is. I will applaud Hamilton when he wins. Any racer. But those of you who drive from your couch, get out there and do it. Understand how close it gets.

Eddie Jordan was the Henry Kissinger of F1. He handled a difficult interview very well. I hadn't regarded myself as a punditocrat of F1 but actually I probably am. I remember the days of F1on tv on Saturdays.

"

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8. Posted by VC10-1103, 25/08/2014 9:17

"Why would Nico do that deliberately & risk taking himself out? The results of contact like that can go either way. A couple of centimeters either and possibly Lewis wouldn't have got a puncture and Nico would have had the handicap of a damaged front wing"

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9. Posted by Spindoctor, 25/08/2014 8:39 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 25/08/2014 13:00)

"I find most of the comments here pretty depressing.
We'll never know for certain if Rosberg crashed into Hamilton in order to ruin his race, but his move was undoubtedly "deliberate". The move was over-ambitious, and certain to fail. The sad truth is that Rosberg is insufficiently talented even to attempt such an on-the-limit manoeuvre. We know it, he knows it.

I say "deliberate" because it's clear that he made a conscious decision, by his own admission, to "prove a point". He certainly achieved that. He proved (were proof necessary) that he is not in the top rank of Formula One drivers. If we ignore Sporting considerations, or even those of basic personal integrity, his decision to "prove" to us all that he would not be intimidated by Hamilton, paid-off handsomely.

The punditocracy, most of whom should know better, have striven to convince us that it was a racing incident. It was an "incident" but it had nothing to do with "racing".
Let's be generous, and assume that Rosberg genuinely thought he was going to overtake when he started the manoeuvre, it should quickly have become clear to him, as it was to the rest of us, that it wouldn't work. At that point, a gentle dab on the brakes, and a minor steering correction leaves two Mercedes cars in the race, a potentially enthralling battle and a Mercedes One-Two.
Rosberg chose instead to hit Hamilton's rear tyre with his front wing. The probable outcome of wing vs. tyre is a rear puncture for the car that is hit, and at worst wing-damage for the attacking car. That's exactly what happened. I'm pretty sure Rosberg calculated that even allowing for a longer stop for a nose change he could win the race. Luckily for us & the Sport Daniel Ricciardo had other ideas.

It's worth noting that Rosberg's fumblingly amateurish efforts apart, there was much overtaking throughout the field, with very few collisions, and some outstanding "proper" racing.

In the cynical environment of modern Formula One Rosberg's behaviour is almost certain to go unpunished, and barring miracles, he'll be crowned "Champion". It will be his last.
Even if, as seems probable, Hamilton will leave at the end of the season, one of the new drivers like Bottas will join the team, and blast young Nico into the weeds where he belongs."

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10. Posted by TokyoAussie, 25/08/2014 3:35 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 25/08/2014 13:00)

"Hamilton claiming Rosberg did it on purpose is surely taking poetic licence. But Rosberg was clearly at fault; accidental but still his responsibility to avoid.

As for when Wolff claims that "It cannot - and will not - happen again," I just laugh. It can all too easily happen again, and most likely will."

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11. Posted by f1khun, 25/08/2014 2:42

"@scf1fan, @everyone
Nice was very ambitious but then again, in the last race Lewis told the team that if Nico did not press him, he would not step aside. So Nico had a point to make (which Nico confirmed more or less after the race). Now Nico goes to the offensive and Lewis closes the door. Could he have waited, like Niki said? YES. But Nico set out to make a point, just as Lewis did.

Now, of course, this accident benefitted Nico more then it did Lewis, but neither of them won the race because of it. And Nico did not intentionally puncture the tyre of Lewis, just as he did not intentionally damage his front wing. What Lewis did, is to drive at HIGH speed back to the pits to change his tyre, which damaged his underfloor. Is that understandable? YES

The problem is that they are racers, and the interest of Mercedes did collide with the interests of both Lewis and Nico. You cannot avoid this with two aces in the same team; ask Ron Dennis.....

Nobody is sabotaging the other, it was a race incident; both chose to not give space to the other to prove a point. Lewis was ahead and Nico was a bit ambitious, but that is to be expected. If they would not have been team mates, this accident would not have happened, but inside the team, this is what happens.

I hope that Mercedes solves this in a good way; Nico deserves a spanking, sure, but Lewis could have let Nico through in Hungary and it would not have hurt him, and it would have benefited Mercedes as a team. Lewis wanted Nico to show that he was more aggressive, so Nico did that in Belgium....

Maybe one of them won't be in the same team in 2015 - I am sure that would be the best. But I am sure that neither of them wants to leave so Mercedes has to fix this :-) Good luck to them........."

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12. Posted by Jorjitop, 25/08/2014 0:42

"Lewis is such a crybaby. He always plays chicken with other drivers and expects the others to back down. This time Nico did not. But, all Lewis had to do was give him an extra 5 cm.

Look at his history. Lewis has provoked many more accidents than Nico. Several from trying to do the same manoeuvre as Nico was trying.

Just lass race Lewis ran Nico off the track to stop him passing. Magnussen got a penalty for doing it to Alonso.

And near the end of Spa, Vettel took the nose off Alonso but was lucky not to cut his tire. Nobody said anything about that.

This whole incident is being overplayed because Lewis likes to moan and Mercedes is pissed off that Lewis got knocked out. Next time Lewis, show some respect for your teammate."

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13. Posted by Kkiirmki, 24/08/2014 23:47 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 25/08/2014 13:00)

"I think Rosberg’s comments are been deliberately taken out of context. Toto Wolf said it best, "He (Rosberg) 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." On another day the contact wouldn’t have punctured the tyre and all would happy at Team Mercedes.

The one who looks like he’s going to benefit the most is Ricciardo. While all this drama and infighting is going on he could come in and steal the Drivers Championship out from under their noses.
"

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14. Posted by scf1fan, 24/08/2014 22:43 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 25/08/2014 13:00)

"Obviously having 2 number ones on a team has always been difficult, but to say that All of F1 has been biased against LH is a bit much. At worst I see this as a racing incident where was Nico being a bit too ambitious, (for being that early in the race) and Lewis was a bit to anxious to "shut the door" on his team mate. Personally I do think that LH is being a bit of a drama queen here. He had the most to lose and yet he decided to close down that final 6-12 inches on NR; NR did not drift or slide up into him. Could NR have gotten out of the way faster? Perhaps, but if he had had to go over the curbs, his day might have been done as well. I think the "he admitted he did it intentionally" is a bit of a red herring. Yes, I'm sure NR admitted that he intentionally did not do more to get further out of the way of LH. But then I feel LH had previously benefited from team orders (Ross Brawn directing NR to hold station last year) at NR's expense, and LH seems to be pretty selective about which team orders he feels a need to follow. (Not to mention his constant snipping at the team over the radio; "tell me more" - "don't talk to me now" . . . . ) Although I think both drivers should do more to avoid such situations (this is not how MB want's to see their name in the papers) it is predominantly LH that is crying to the press. "

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15. Posted by Robert, 24/08/2014 21:58 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 25/08/2014 13:00)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

Rating: Negative (-15)

Hamilton accuses Rosberg

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