Rosberg handed penalty for causing Hamilton collision
Nico Rosberg has been handed a 10-second time penalty for his clash with Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Austrian Grand Prix. The stewards have deemed Rosberg fully responsible for their coming together, but the penalty has no impact on the result.
Rosberg had been struggling in the final laps of the race with degrading tyres and problems with his brakes, but eventually allowed Hamilton to take his chance after making a slight mistake at turn 1 of the final lap. Hamilton grabbed it with both hands, slipstreaming on the following straight and getting ahead in the braking area of turn 2, to end up in contact with his team mate.
Following a long meeting, the stewards have decided that the collision was all Rosberg's fault.
"Having taken note of the extensive evidence given by both drivers and the video and telemetry data, it was apparent that Car 44 (HAM) was in front of Car 6 (ROS) – i.e. more than fully alongside – and that the driver of Car 44 could have clearly made the turn (T2) on the track, if not for the resultant collision."
"Car 6 did not allow Car 44 'racing room' and hence the driver of Car 6 was responsible for the collision."
The championship leader was also awarded two penalty points for the accident and a reprimand for not having stopped while his car was damaged.
"The driver continued on the track with a damaged car spreading debris and with the front wing detached" but recognition of extenuating circumstances, that he slowed down and tried to mitigate risk to other drivers and cars."
Rosberg was furthermore also handed a reprimand for continuing on track, even though the front wing of his car was detached.
