The FIA will not open an investigation into the Hamilton/Rosberg clash at Spa
If several drivers showed their support for Lewis Hamilton following the collision he was involved in during the Belgian F1 Grand Prix against Nico Rosberg, such as Jenson Button or Felipe Massa, with the latter considering that the German could have been penalized, the FIA announced that it would not open an investigation into the incident.
The clash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the early laps of the Belgian Grand Prix continues to be a topic of discussion. Indeed, the incident was not investigated by the race stewards, who implicitly deemed it a racing incident, much like the collision that took place between Romain Grosjean and Jules Bianchi at the exit of La Source right after the start – the Lotus driver damaging his front wing and the Marussia driver suffering a puncture, which cost him dearly.
In the aftermath of the Grand Prix held in the Ardennes, if Lewis Hamilton had revealed the admission of guilt by his teammate, the matter quickly took a new turn with statements from the executive director of the Mercedes team, Toto Wolff, who explained that Rosberg’s comments had been misinterpreted.
Jenson Button sided with his former McLaren teammate and he is not the only one, as Felipe Massa also believes, according to Autosport, that Nico Rosberg could have been penalized in this affair: « Maybe Nico created a problem for the other guy and maybe he should have been penalized. He was on the outside, so when he touched the car, he was in a position where overtaking was impossible. He hit the other car and the other car’s tire got punctured, so in my opinion, the way it transpired is not fair. »
The Brazilian driver did acknowledge, however, that visibility in an F1 car isn’t always ideal, but that it isn’t an excuse: « To be honest, we [the drivers] can’t see the front wing [from inside the cockpit], but it was on the side, so it was in a position where he should have already lifted off. He was on the outside, and the other car was entering the corner, so in my opinion, it’s more related to Nico, because Lewis couldn’t see things well. »
However, it appears that the International Automobile Federation (FIA) should not reopen the incident for lack of new conclusive evidence, as a spokesperson told BBC Sport: “The FIA will not intervene in this matter. Only a ‘new element’ that would have emerged after the publication of the results could justify the opening of an investigation. A statement supposedly made during an internal meeting that was later denied by the team itself does not constitute a ‘new element’.”
