Hamilton and Rosberg - Five crashes between Mercedes team-mates

Sport360 staff 09:24 08/07/2016
Rosberg and Hamilton go head-to-head at Silverstone this weekend.

The championship rivals sensationally collided on the last lap in Austria – their third coming together in five races.

But both drivers have shared some controversial moments on the track – here’s five occasions when they have collided in the heat of battle:

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

Rosberg spent much of the summer break seething after Hamilton failed to obey a team instruction to move out of his way in Hungary. Hamilton led the opening phase of the ensuing race in Belgian before Rosberg turned into his team-mate on lap two. Rosberg sustained damage to his front wing while Hamilton was subsequently forced to retire. The stewards deemed it to be a racing incident, but Mercedes fined Rosberg a six-figure sum after he admitted to causing the crash on purpose.

2015 United States Grand Prix

Hamilton arrived in Austin knowing that a victory would be enough to secure a third world championship. On the run down to turn one on the opening lap, Hamilton and Rosberg banged wheels with the latter forced off the track. The stewards took no action, and after spinning in the closing stages while leading to gift-wrap the victory and championship to Hamilton, Rosberg petulantly threw a cap at his team-mate ahead of the podium celebrations.

2016 Spanish Grand Prix

Rosberg held a 43-point lead over Hamilton courtesy of winning the opening four rounds of the championship. Hamilton started on pole, but Rosberg assumed the lead in the opening exchanges. But with the German, in a wrong setting mode and as such devoid of full power on the exit of turn three, Hamilton sensed his chance. Rosberg swiftly moved to defend his position, forcing Hamilton on to the grass. The Briton lost control of his Mercedes before crashing into this team-mate with both ending up out of the race in the gravel at turn four. Opinion was divided as who was to blame, and the stewards took no action.

2016 Canadian Grand Prix

Hamilton started on pole, but after a poor getaway had slipped behind Sebastian Vettel, who was third on the grid. Rosberg attempted to pass Hamilton around the outside of turn one, but he ran out of space before banging wheels with Hamilton, and running on to the grass. He re-joined way down the order before crossing the line in fifth. Hamilton won, and the stewards saw no reason to take any further action. “It didn’t work out and I was very p***** off, but that’s racing,” Rosberg said.

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

Rosberg was on course to win the Austrian Grand Prix for a third time in as many seasons, but under pressure from Hamilton he made a mistake at turn one on the final lap. Rosberg defended the inside line at the right-handed turn two, forcing Hamilton, who had drawn ahead of his team-mate, to move to the left. But instead of negotiating the turn, Rosberg appeared focussed only on his team-mate, and when Hamilton turned right, the pair made contact. Rosberg was deemed at fault for the collision and slapped with a 10-second penalty and two penalty points on his licence.

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