2
Mercedes chiefs Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff on Sunday disagreed over the sensational first-lap crash in Barcelona.
As the stewards looked into Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's crash, team chairman and F1 legend Lauda pointed an angry finger at the reigning triple world champion.
"For me, unacceptable," said the great Austrian.
"First of all we must talk to Lewis, because Nico was defending his lead," Lauda told German television in Spain.
But team boss Wolff disagreed, declaring that it was in fact a "racing incident".
The stewards agreed, and Hamilton told reporters that Rosberg was correcting an underpowered engine setting when he dove into the diminishing gap.
As for who was most to blame, "I'm not going to get into it," said Hamilton.
"But as I said, huge apologies to the team and I'll do everything to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Rosberg also apologised but he hinted he was unhappy with Hamilton's move.
"The stewards' decision is the stewards' decision and so I go with that verdict," said the German.
Told that it it sounds like he blames Hamilton, Rosberg insisted: "I didn't say that."
Wolff explained: "It's not a situation where you can attribute 100 per cent of the blame to either one of the drivers.
"Niki Lauda's driver perspective means he has an opinion. This is his instinct and that's fair enough," Wolff said.
Lauda said he accepted Hamilton's apology.
"For me it's relatively easy -- Lewis apologised, which is fine for me so it's done and we think about the future," he said.
Wolff, meanwhile, allayed fears that the crash could cause Mercedes to end its current policy of allowing the drivers to freely race.
"We won't change our approach," said Wolff. "We owe it to F1 and to the fans to let them race. We let the drivers race and sometimes this can happen."
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
United Arab Emirates
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
470,530 comments on Mercedes
66 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Lewis Hamilton
615,584 comments on Mercedes 57 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Mercedes
Replies (2)
Login to replymclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
It was Hamilton's fault, the clown couldn't handle the butthurt he was out driven into the lead.
Vet5
Posts: 225
Def Hamiltons fault, he does have these things called brakes! But all in all im glad they wiped eachother out as it showed F1 would be in a much better situation without Mercedes!