Leading figures at Mercedes reacted immediately with anger at the crash and held a crisis meeting with the drivers shortlyafter the race. “We just had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose,” said Hamilton. “He said he did it on purpose, he said he could have avoided it. He said ‘I did it to prove a point.’ He basically said ‘I did it to prove a point’ and you don’t have to just rely on me. Go and ask Toto [Wolff], Paddy [Lowe] and all those guys who are not happy with him as well.”
Rosberg, who was booed on the podium by fans, defended his actions. “I was quicker at the time and there was an opportunity,” he said. “I gave it a go. I didn’t see any risk in trying to overtake, so why should I not try? We had a discussion, as is important after such circumstances because what happened cost the team a lot of points. I don’t want to go into details as to who apologised to who and things like that.”
The team manager, Wolff, backed Hamilton’s account, however, and remained unhappy with Rosberg. “We had a collision that could have been avoided, a second-lap collision. It was Nico who attacked and he shouldn’t have done it,” he said. “It was also to show he was not prepared to give in. With hindsight, if he could turn back time, Nico would probably not do it again in the way he did.”
