15/05/2016
NEWS STORY
The race stewards at Barcelona have declared today's first lap clash which saw both Mercedes eliminated to be a racing incident.
Following a difficult start, Hamilton held the lead on the approach to Turn 1 but was caught out when Rosberg attacked from the outside and led into the corner.
The Briton subsequently mounted an attack coming out of Turn 3, sensing that Rosberg had slowed.
As the world champion made a move to the right of the race leader, his nose seemingly alongside the rear wheels of the German, Rosberg moved to the right causing the charging Hamilton to take to the grass. With no grip the Briton spun, hitting the rear of his teammate's car in the process and sending them both into the gravel.
In the immediate aftermath, Niki Lauda blamed Hamilton for the incident. Saying it was "unacceptable", he argued that Rosberg was a racer and was duty bound to close the door.
Team boss Toto Wolff, appearing to take the First Amendment, opted not to apportion blame on either driver, instead waiting to hear the stewards verdict and examine all available evidence.
"The incident concerned started when Car 6 (Rosberg) dropped into an incorrect power mode, as set by the driver prior to the start," said the stewards. "This created a significant power differential between Car 6 and Car 44 (Hamilton) at the exit of Turn 3 coming onto the straight, resulting in as much as a 17kph speed difference between the two cars on the straight.
"Car 6 moved to the right to defend his position, as is his right under Art 27.7 of the Sporting regulations. Simultaneously Car 44 as the significantly faster car with, at that time, apparent space on the inside, moved to make the pass.
"Art 27.7 requires the leading driver to leave room, if there is a "significant portion" of the car attempting to pass alongside. Car 44 had a portion of his front wing inside Car 6 small fractions of a second prior to Car 44 having to leave the right side of the track to avoid an initial collision, which may have led him to believe he had the right to space on the right. Once on the grass on the side of the track Car 44 was no longer in control of the situation.
"Having heard extensively from both drivers and from the team, the Stewards determined that Car 6 had the right to make the maneuver that he did and that Car 44's attempt to overtake was reasonable, and that the convergence of events led neither driver to be wholly or predominantly at fault, and therefore take no further action."
On hearing the stewards decision Rosberg said: "The stewards have said it is a racing incident which we have to accept. The stewards' decision is the stewards' decision, we leave it at that. That's the verdict."
"I'm not going to get into that," replied Hamilton, when asked who he thought was to blame. "I want to make an apology to all of our team," he continued. "When I stopped my heart just sank because there's thirteen hundred-odd people in our team who all work so hard for us to be here. To not deliver for them, it's honestly indescribable how gutted I was.
"I was catching him and he wasn't on the racing line, he was on the inside, slightly to the right. But the gap to the left was much smaller than the one to the right so I went for the right. There was a gap there and as a racing driver when you are going 17kms faster you go for the gap."
"I'm going to try to move forward, and to let the team know I'm going to do all I can to make sure it doesn't happen again."
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