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FIA not to act following Mercedes clash

NEWS STORY
26/08/2014

The FIA has ruled out taking action against Nico Rosberg following Sunday's controversial Belgian Grand Prix.

The move follows Lewis Hamilton's claim that at a post-race meeting the German said he had deliberately hit him to "prove a point", a comment Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff subsequently said had been misinterpreted by the Briton.

Whilst Mercedes attempts to calm the situation internally away from the media spotlight, the FIA has confirmed that it will not get involved, Stewards in Spa having already dismissed the clash as a "racing incident".

"The FIA will not intervene in this issue," said a spokesman for the FIA, admitting that it would require a "new element" in order for its Stewards to open a fresh investigation.

"A comment alleged to have been made in an internal briefing and later denied by the team itself does not constitute such a 'new element'," added the spokesman.

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1. Posted by Robert, 29/08/2014 8:23

"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 xoanon, 28/08/2014 10:26

"Why would the FIA act, there was nothing to act upon, it was a racing incident.

And Lewis' version of reality has been called into question on numerous occasions, and even got him banned once, so Toto Wolff's rebuttal of Lewis' take on things is no surprise."

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3. Posted by my tyres are going off, 27/08/2014 18:39

"OK Nico was wrong or Lewis was wrong or this was a racing incident. Crashes happen or this is not NASCAR and we do or don't have safety rules in F1, The issue here for me is how Merc spin the incident. Lewis ignoring team orders was spun as Merc being fair and letting drivers race. This one robbed us of a great race and gave Nico a huge advantage. How do Merc spin this one as fair play? The posts on this and other sites show me that this one has got the audience worked up. If Nico takes the crown and Merc can not convince us that they dealt with it fairly then they will always be open to a smear that they support underhand behaviour, Please note I said smear as I have no opinion based on the video I have seen."

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4. Posted by Mechanical, 27/08/2014 10:32

"The FIA taking action at this stage would only serve to confirm their bias, if no bias exists why did they not announce that there would be an investigation as is the norm ? , it is odd for example that when Grojean caused an accident at Spa a few years back everyone wanted him hung yet when "the Iceman" caused an accident at Silverstone this year it was no big deal ......wheres the consistency "

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5. Posted by gturner38, 27/08/2014 4:43

"It's amazing that a common form of contact that has happened countless times becomes an international incident when it involves the Mercedes drivers. Let's look at what happened. Hamilton took the inside line on the Kemmel Straight to force Rosberg around the outside. Rosberg took the invitation and pulled up to the point that his nose was even with the cockpit of Lewis's car. Going through the corner, Lewis is gaining ground by means of having the shorter line, but not so much as to actually clear Rosberg's nose. Hamilton either thought he was clear or figured he could force Rosberg to back out so he cut across to the normal racing line rather than running just a couple feet off the white line so that Nico could get up on the kerb. Rosberg, having been pushed off track by Hamilton in Hungary, wasn't having any of it and held his ground. It was a case of both drivers being aggressive and both drivers made decisions that caused the contact.

I know there is a picture from Rosberg's onboard showing him steering towards Hamilton. What most Hamilton supporters overlook is that the reason Rosberg is turning right is because he is still in the middle of the turn. Hamilton is undoubtedly also turning at that point.

It's a racing incident, plain and simple. "

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6. Posted by wmcot54, 27/08/2014 4:32

"And those who demand a penalty for every coming together of two cars must also believe that Basketball is still a non-contact sport, too, right???

I'm sick of all the penalties. Let's see real racing. Look up Dijon 1979 on YouTube and see how many penalties that Villeneuve and Arnoux would have received today. Of course cars didn't fall apart when sneezed on and tires actually lasted a whole race (sometimes) back then."

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7. Posted by scf1fan, 26/08/2014 22:00

"(Dang it, I thought I saw NR's mechanic hanging around my spell and grammar checker!!! I wonder what other evil deeds they must be up to other than incorrecting my posts!!! :-("

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8. Posted by scf1fan, 26/08/2014 21:53

"Yawn . . . I guess some of the people here just absolutely know what everyone else must be thinking or doing at every critical moment. The FIA is biased. The stewards aren't doing their jobs. The mechanics are sabotaging parts. Driver's (well, one particular driver) aren't materializing themselves out of other drivers (well, one particular driver's) way . . . Etc. etc. That is a lot of people to be critical of. (And where did all that indisputable information come from?)

I guess the ONE video I saw that indicated the NR's end plate caused LHs puncture wasn't enough to make that judgment? Is there some "Zapruder" film out there that could have shown any more detail than what wasn't shown on TV. (Oh yeah, the media is biased too, it a vast conspiracy . . . .) Where was Captain Obvious when the world hung in the balance? How do we know NR WASN'T on the grassy knoll?

Yes, NR must investigate for ALL collision he has caused, even those that he instigated by just looking in some general vicinity there of! he's reckless, a terror, a danger to the public . . . the nation, the galaxy as a hole!. He's even cruel to small animals (particularly dogs (well, one particular dog)) in the pit lane! When will PETA investigate that!!! Where will it end? Oh the humanity! . . . . Oh . . . Oops, sorry . . . I was just trying to make a point . . . and I might have been channeling "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" for a moment.

Please, all kidding aside . . . When two forces collide (pun intended) we should be able to watch and enjoy it. Feel free to root for your driver, but don't invent story lines to bolster the outcome you perceive. The only issue I have with "the incident" IS the blame game . . . "

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9. Posted by Robert, 26/08/2014 20:52

"As I have already said, in my opinion, Jean Todt and his FIA are too soft and 'spineless' to do anything! To me, unless the stewards thoroughly reviewed the collision during the race, and not just a very quick assessment that it was a racing incident, then to be fully fair to Lewis, the FIA could have reviewed all the available onboard photos and videos of Rosberg's driving when causing that collision resulting in Lewis's puncture! In particular, why did Nico have full right-turn lock on his steering, when as far as I can 'judge' Lewis gave him sufficient space and Nico only needed a half right-turn on his steering to make that corner? To me this is just common sense and fair!

Anyhow, despite the fact that Jean Todt and his FIA will not investigate this Rosberg collision, I hope that they will fully investigate ALL future Rosberg collisions and incidents involving Lewis, including incidents during qualifying, and not just treat it as so innocent, now that we are made 'aware' that Nico is probably not as 'nice' as he would like us to believe!?"

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10. Posted by bfairey, 26/08/2014 20:48

"Why not? if Hamilton had done it to Rosberg ther would have been a 5 place penalty."

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11. Posted by F One, 26/08/2014 17:32

"Common sense prevails.
It was a racing incident. Nothing more nothing less."

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