Wolff: The Rosberg / Hamilton clash “was not deliberate”
After Lewis Hamilton's remarks claiming that Nico Rosberg had deliberately caused their collision during the Belgian Grand Prix in F1, Toto Wolff explains that the German's statements were misinterpreted.
Following the Belgian Grand Prix and the controversy stemming from Lewis Hamilton’s remarks, Toto Wolff, the Mercedes director, wanted to clarify the situation. According to him, there is a misinterpretation of Nico Rosberg’s statements.
The Austrian indicated that the German did not intentionally hit the Briton but chose not to give way. Nico felt he needed to hold his line. He needed to make a statement, and for Lewis, it was clearly not him who should be wary of Nico, he explains to Autosport.
« [Rosberg] did not back down. He believed that it was up to Lewis to give him space, and that Lewis did not give him any. So, they agreed to disagree during a very heated discussion with us, but it wasn’t deliberate. It makes no sense, » continued the Mercedes director.
However, he does not wish to absolve the championship leader: « It doesn’t change the scenario at all because the accident, as I see it, is not acceptable for us. What we saw there is that Nico was not ready to take the escape route, and it caused the collision. It’s not something we want to see happen. We had a collision that could have been avoided, a collision in the 2nd lap, it was Nico who attacked and he shouldn’t have done that. It was also to show that he was not ready to yield. […] If he could go back, Nico would probably not do that again in the way he did. »
