It has been nearly a week since the infamous contact between Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps.
I have thought about the incident, watched the replays and looked at the comments from the drivers’ steward for the race, former F1 driver Emanuele Pirro.
James Allen on F1 reported that Pirro spoke with Italian sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“We needed less than 10 seconds to decide that the contact was innocuous and not worth pursuing,” Pirro said.
“It was something venial that had unfortunate consequences, but the contact came in a few millimetres, in other words neither of the two cars had sudden movements.”
“There was no intention, perhaps Rosberg was a little cunning and clever to try it, but in the end the main problem was what happened within the team. The contact between Alonso and Vettel on the final lap, for example, was much clearer, but there again there was no investigation.”
However, I’d like to use footage of the incident to debate that. What I saw was a couple of sudden movements, not extravagant, but sudden none the less, by Rosberg with his steering wheel before contact with Hamilton, which consequently damaged Hamilton’s rear tyre, and Rosberg’s front wing.
I ask you, does this look familiar from Rosberg? Remember earlier this year in Monaco in qualifying?
Again, a couple of sudden movements with the steering wheel, designed to miss the corner/racing line, and cause trouble to his teammate.
You might say that the contours of the track caused this mistake from Rosberg, but Rosberg has raced and visited Monaco many times before, and knows that he can cause a yellow flag there and prevent his teammate from completing his flying lap. Rosberg’s reaction after getting pole position after this incident was absolutely disgraceful, and his reaction at Spa after the race was also disgraceful.
What is even more disgraceful was that it took the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) stewards at the race meeting, Emanuele Pirro, Gerd Ennser, Enzo Spano and Yves Bacquelaine, less than 10 seconds to make their minds up about the incident. Surely, considering the standing of these two drivers in the world championship, it deserved a much longer review than 10 seconds.
However, these four stewards had no habitus at that particular moment. For anyone who may not know the word habitus means, it is ‘a feel for the game’. It’s surprising considering the roles that the stewards were given by the FIA, they know the sport and the game inside-out. What I saw from the replays, however, gives significant doubt to Pirro’s explanation of the incident.
However, this is the second time in a relatively short period that Rosberg has made similar mistakes, which has given him a sizeable advantage over his teammate. I’m not sure what to think, but many people would think that his actions and conduct are as close to coward-like as you can get.
There would be good reason for him to be acting in this way, as his dad, 1982 Formula OneWorld Champion Keke Rosberg, criticised seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher for his deliberate actions during qualifying at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, and (Nico) Rosberg may not want to reveal his actions to avoid feeling the wrath from his Rosberg senior.
However, the bigger question is, what are Mercedes going to do about this? I think they should drop him for one race for breaking team protocol, but that won’t happen as the bosses at Mercedes, Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe, don’t have the guts. Both of them have shown no guts in their leadership, and everyone knows that for success to happen, you must have a ‘no guts, no glory’ approach.
As for Rosberg, if he is a coward, which I’m not saying that he is, well then he should be punished by the appropriate authority. And, as we all should know, cowards will always lose in the end.
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