HAMILTON SHOULD BE FINED, DECLARES SIR JACKIE
SIR Jackie Stewart has called on Mercedes to ‘discipline’ Lewis Hamilton for the crash that wiped out both of the team’s cars in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton escaped without censure from the stewards after he collided with team-mate Nico Rosberg when the German blocked his overtaking manoeuvre on the first lap.
But Stewart, the only Brit other than Hamilton to have won three world championships, said: ‘It was all emotion. First lap. Desperation.
‘That’s not the way to win, not consistently. Hamilton is to blame. Rosberg is allowed to protect himself. You don’t go for it on the first lap.
‘It’s just completely wrong. And then to throw the steering wheel out of the car. Probably £30-40,000 of steering wheel.
‘It’s difficult for them to leave Lewis out for a race when they need to win the world championship. But there does need to be discipline. I would certainly have penalised the driver who made that mistake on the first lap.
‘It would have to be financial. But Lewis is making such a lot of money that it might not be a big penalty.’
Mercedes, however, will resist the urge to penalise Hamilton, who trails Rosberg by 43 points in the standings.
Team chairman Niki Lauda said the ‘matter is over’ after Hamilton apologised. ‘There is nothing left for me to do,’ he added. ‘We do not need clear-the-air talks. We just get on with it and hope for no mistakes in future.’
The damage to the cars will hamper Mercedes’ testing in Barcelona this week, where they had hoped to run their new front and rear wings and new floor ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday week.
Rosberg, meantime, will decide over the coming days whether he needs to hold clear-the-air talks with Hamilton.
The weekend incident marked the latest low in a relationship which has become increasingly strained as the former childhood friends fight for the world title for a third successive season.
Rosberg, the son of 1982 world champion Keke, boarded his private jet to his residence in Monaco to have dinner with his parents in the aftermath of Sunday’s crash.
And it is from there where he will determine if he needs to speak to Hamilton ahead of the next round of the championship, which takes place in Rosberg’s adopted home.
‘That is something I need to think about in the days to come,’ said Rosberg. ‘I can’t tell you now as I am extremely gutted.
‘It is very tough because it was my race to win. I am not just gutted for myself, but I am gutted for everybody because we are one team and we are together in this.
‘I know how much they work for these two cars and for us both to end up in the gravel trap is the worst possible thing.’
Alain Prost, the four-time champion, who formed one half of Formula One’s greatest-ever rivalry with Ayrton Senna, lauded Mercedes’ decision to allow Hamilton and Rosberg to continue their battle on the track.
But the Frenchman warned that they may be forced into a re-think if reigning champion Hamilton, who remains 43 points behind his team-mate with a possible 400 still to play for, and Rosberg are involved in another crash.
‘The consequence is big but thanks to Mercedes to let the drivers be free,’ said Prost. ‘When you dominate and you do that once or twice again, for sure, they are going to say you are No 1 and you are No2 because they don’t want to lose the championship, which is normal.
‘But at the moment, it is only the first time in three years they have taken each other out. I think we have to be careful that we don’t overreact.’