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| Hamilton and Rosberg touch at Les Combes (via BBC Sport) |
Let's have a look at that Hamilton-Rosberg incident for a sec.
Some segments of the motoring media have come down hard on the side of Hamilton while some more sensible, less partisan voices saw it for what it was, two top dogs trying to see who can pee higher on the pole.
A racing incident which is the direct result of Mercedes' inability to control the relations between their drivers. It's possible Mercedes expected Hamilton to walk all over Rosberg at the beginning of the year but that didn't quite happen and there's no doubt this has caused Lewis to get upset. Also, coming into Spa, the baggage of Lewis going against team orders which the team spent the summer break minimizing.
In fact , things have been extra tense since Monaco. Lewis is kind of playing the victim now but he's the one who first played dirty, saying he deserved to win because Rosberg came from privilege and he instead had to "sleep on the couch".
Even the most rabid fanboys must admit that was pretty shitty.
Hamilton then doubled down suggesting Rosberg copied his setups, ironic given Lewis' Mclaren year as Alonso's teammate. At some point on that Monaco week end Rosberg must have decided that he had to do whatever if he was going to win so, if you believe the conspiracies, he did. Rosberg was probably also taken aback the team did not reprimand Hamilton after Hungary, Rosberg himself had given up when asked by the team in the past and has a long memory.
All of this as a background to what happened today, there was much more at stake than just a position: Neither was going to yield.
So, coming out of Radillon, Hamilton was less than perfect and Rosberg was able to get a tow. As they turn in for Les Combes, Rosberg's nose is halfway up Hamilton's car. It's not as if he's entitled to anything but for sure Hamilton knew precisely where he was.
In the second part of the corner, Hamilton does what is normal to try and do: he closes the gap and they touch. He did not turn in any later for the left and naturally did not give up. Like any racer would do.
Now from the onboard. nobody can say Lewis did not know exactly where Rosberg was. At this point, if Hamilton gives him any room, Rosberg does have a chance on the next left, so, as any racer would, he goes for it.
Now the middle part of the corner: Anthony Davidson used Rosberg's correction as evidence he turned into Hamilton. Ridiculous, it's clear Rosberg was just catching oversteer and when he came back Hamilton had already cut across the track and the gap was gone. You can argue Rosberg made an error and lost the rear but even if he didn't and Hamilton kept the same line, they would have touched.
Both went for the same piece of road, neither yielded, classic racing incident.
Why it would get to that point is up to Mercedes management to sort out, for sure though, if you tell two racers fighting for championship and image that they are free to race, they will.
