Formula One world champions Mercedes will not rein in Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg after they collided and put each other out of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, team boss Toto Wolff said.
“We have moved on from Spa in 2014 and it was a completely different situation in the team back then,” the Austrian told reporters, referring to a collision between the two at the Belgian Grand Prix.
“By continuing to let them race [each other], it was clear that eventually this could happen, Wolff said. “And we will continue to let them race.”
Photo: AFP
The second-lap collision in 2014 led to a freeze in relations between the drivers, who had been friends and rivals since their teenage years.
In that incident, Rosberg finished second behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, while Hamilton ultimately retired with collision damage.
The Briton said later that the German, who was blamed by the team, had declared he had done it on purpose.
Sunday’s incident put both out of the race, with the two drivers lining up on the front row of the grid and crashing into each other as they fought for the lead through the third corner of the opening lap.
The collision ended Rosberg’s run of seven wins in succession, including the first four of the year, and the team’s hopes of a one-two finish.
Wolff said the collision, which the stewards deemed a racing incident, was the result of a number of unfortunate coincidences. Neither driver was totally to blame.
“I think what matters more is how we come out of the incident as a team,” Wolff said. “We’ve had a really great spirit in the team in the last couple of races through many ups and downs.
“We never threw the toys out of the pram and I think that is another challenge for us, to demonstrate as a team that we can move on from difficult circumstances,” he said.
Hamilton suffered power unit problems in qualifying for the two races before Barcelona, starting at the back in China and from 10th place in Russia, but retained his composure.
The champion, still 43 points behind Rosberg with 16 races to go, on Sunday said that his first thoughts were for the team.
“That was the most gutting thing when I stopped, just thinking about all these guys that work so hard in this team to give me the opportunity to race today. To not deliver for them ... is a very painful experience for all of us,” Hamilton said.
Wolff said both drivers knew what was expected and he was “100 percent sure” it would not influence the way they worked as a team.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but