Former FIA president Max Mosley believes it was wrong of Mercedes to blame and punish Nico Rosberg publicly.

The always controversial former president under whose watch the sport's governing body played a far more high-profile role than it does under his successor was never afraid to punish those who broke the rules.

However, whilst agreeing with the way in which Mercedes opted to deal with the situation, Mosley is critical of the decision to make public the decision to punish Rosberg.

"In every respect but one I think Mercedes dealt with the incident in the right way," he told the Daily Mail. "If they decided to fine or punish Rosberg they should not have announced it. It's as if the team are blaming him publicly. That's not really right."

Mosley, during whose reign numerous scandals, most notably 'Spygate', got Formula One into the headlines for all the wrong reasons, agrees with the Race Stewards at Spa who saw the second-lap clash involving the Mercedes duo as a racing incident.

"The way I see it, and I'm on the outside now, is that the very experienced race director and the stewards decided not to act because it was a 'racing incident'. That was more or less that. It was a minor incident with serious consequences. What the drivers did or not say afterwards is not clear. On that basis the FIA could not get involved.

"It's then a matter for the team," he added. "A lot goes on behind closed doors. What is unusual is announcing it. Personally, I wouldn't have done that.'

In a brief statement issued on Friday the German team revealed that Rosberg had "acknowledged his responsibility" for the incident and that "suitable disciplinary measures" had been taken. It is believed the "disciplinary measures" include a six-figure fine.

Chris Balfe

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1. Posted by 70sfan, 15/09/2014 11:42 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:44)

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

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2. Posted by 70sfan, 01/09/2014 12:56 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 03/09/2014 8:47)

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

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3. Posted by scf1fan, 01/09/2014 10:52 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"@ Chris Balfe . . . I was once told by a driving instructor; if I and Mario (Andretti) were going into a corner, and I "beat" Mario to the "line" . . . It would still be Mario's corner. ;-)"

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4. Posted by Editor, 01/09/2014 9:43 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"And it was Keke Rosberg who said of Gilles Villeneuve...

"To Gilles, racing truly was a sport, which is why he would never chop you. Something like that he'd look on with contempt. You didn't have to be a good driver to do that, let alone a great one. Anyone could do that.

Gilles was the hardest ******* I ever raced against, but completely fair. If you'd beaten him to a corner, he accepted it and gave you room. Then he'd be right back at you at the next one!

Sure, he took unbelievable risks - but only with himself - and that's why I get pissed off now when people compare Senna with him. Gilles was a giant of a driver, yes, but he was also a great man.""

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5. Posted by Spindoctor, 01/09/2014 9:38 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"It seems that this will run & run!
Notwithstanding my views on this, which are largely "pro Lewis" I think as everyone involved has now said we need to "move on".

I suspect that he most significant outcome is that rightly or wrongly there is now zero "trust" between Hamilton & Rosberg. This might sound "obvious" at one level, but if you look a bit deeper I think its going to make a significant difference . "Trust" between drivers racing closely at high speeds, even with today's "safe" cars and tracks, is an essential component of F1. At Spa we saw many overtaking manoeuvres, some brilliant, others mundane (DRS-induced), but these were only possible because the drivers trusted one another to behave if not honourably, then at least predictably.
If that trust breaks-down then all bets must be off, at least between Hamilton & Rosberg, and so the much anticipated "battle" for the title might never happen."

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6. Posted by Martin B, 01/09/2014 8:45

"I'll say again - cut the negativity - it happened - I have an opinion as to who was at fault but get over it - and let them race to the end. It's how it should be........
"

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7. Posted by scf1fan, 01/09/2014 7:06 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"Yes it is very strange that some continue to misrepresent their opinion as THE fact. (And I've been watching F1 since before Mario tried to run Indy and Monaco . . . Blah, blah, blah . . . Doesn't really make a bit of difference does it? :-)

Now, all the videos I've seen show Nico clearly had the run on Lewis. (Does it matter why Nico was faster than Lewis?) And in those videos, Nico did have his front wheel along Lewis's side pod (front wheel ahead of rear wheel) in the lead up to the incident . . . (I just re-watched the incident several times, from several views including Nico's in-car . . . Can we post pictures here???) I'll agree that Nico was turning his wheel right for an instant just before the cars touched, but my OPINION would be that it was no more so than what might be expected as one car is in the turbulence of another and/or on the curb. It didn't appear that Nico's car altered it's trajectory to any significance due to this steering input . . . . So, unless the conspiracy theorists would have us believe that the videos have been altered, how are we supposed to take some of the commentary seriously?

Now, whether you call what happened as "slamming the door" or being "overly aggressive," that is entirely debatable. And there was probably a bit of both."

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8. Posted by karel, 01/09/2014 6:01

"It's incredible all this news all this attention for a race incident. These drivers are on a race track fighting to be the best, should we turn them into ladies drinking a cup of tea instead of plain racing ? Yes it's a mens world let them be."

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9. Posted by Robert, 01/09/2014 5:35

"It's really strange to me how people watch F1 and come to some of their conclusions!

I am a big fan of F1 and have been watching racing for over 30 year, and if we're solely talking about the Belgian incident (not Bahrain), then there is no way that you can describe Lewis as 'chopping' across Nico (the in-car video shows that Lewis's car was almost a full car ahead of Nico in the corner)! As for Nico's 'overtaking' move, he was at no time even half a car-length alongside Lewis's car and the only reason Nico's car was faster was because he was in Lewis's slipstream!

Anyway, I think it is quite evident up and down the paddock, with people who really knows and are important to the sport, like team managers and top F1 drivers, have already agreed that Nico was at fault and should had backed out!

The only reason that the stewards did not do anything is because it took them only '10 seconds' to make their decision, and that's wrong when you consider that we're talking about the 2 title contenders, not 2 drivers at the back of the field!

To me the only debate is not who's to blame for the accident (as that's squarely on Nico as in fact 9 times out of 10, this move will cause a puncture to the car in front, as Nico well knew), it's how Mercedes dealt with the incident! And to me, then and now with hind-sight, they dealt with it absolutely correctly!"

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10. Posted by gturner38, 01/09/2014 0:04 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"So now Mercedes has basically reinforced the idea that the lead car in their intrateam battle can chop across the nose of his teammate and the teammate has to bail out of the pass for fear of a huge fine. What's the penalty for Hamilton for not making the slightest effort to leave room after taking a defensive line that initiated the whole situation? This was a racing incident with two drivers pushing hard. Both drivers made decisions during that move that led to the very small amount of contact.

If it was reckless to make an aggressive passing attempt on lap 2 of 44, isn't it equally reckless to aggressively defend the position on lap 2? If Hamilton was truly going to be the quicker of the two cars over a race distance, he would have plenty of opportunities later to repass Nico. If it turned out he was slower than Nico, the proper order would have been set and the two drivers could have gotten on with cruising to the finish without having multiple possible run ins with each other. I guess the "there was plenty of time" logic only applies to Nico, though."

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11. Posted by Martin B, 31/08/2014 21:32 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"And Mr Mosley, why shouldn't Mercedes say that? They have come out all season saying they want their guys to race "for the fans". Tell me sir who else in F1 is doing that? Can you???
"

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12. Posted by Martin B, 31/08/2014 21:23

"I admire many things that Mosley (Junior) did but not all. Sticking his oar in right now is not smart, it undermines the FIA President and I think he deserves a thoroughly good spanking :P
"

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13. Posted by delbort, 31/08/2014 20:52

"I think the whole affair was badly handled by Merc. if the stewards thought it was a racing incident why did Merc start blaming Rosberg they should keep there mouths shut until they had talked with both drivers .If Ross Brawn had been there it would have been handled differently i can understand they were not happy both cars touching but 9 times out of 10 the front driver gets away with it this it was just unlucky very poor management from Merc. Never really liked Max Mosley when he was in F1 but i agree with him on this"

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14. Posted by Jingle, 31/08/2014 18:55 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"Never been a big MM fan since ferrarigate as I think he was personally motivated by his animosity to Ron Dennis. However he gave a very good representation of himself and his dedication to the sport in a Sky interview with Steve Rider which changed my opinion of him. In this case I think he is right to say Mercedes are wrong in my humble opinion Mercdes should take a leaf out of Nico Rosbergs book and keep their comments to the press limited to "no comment" until they have something positive to add to the debate!"

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15. Posted by kiwi2wheels, 31/08/2014 18:46 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 15/09/2014 11:45)

"Me too !! I thought it would be a cold day in hell when I agreed with a MM opinion ..................

It shows how far the " sport " has sunk."

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