Mercedes shocked the world as neither car managed to finish the Spanish Grand Prix. It wasn’t a mechanical failure that led to this unfortunate result, but it was a first lap collision instead. It was said earlier in the season that the teammates would be allowed to race, but that has led to an accident.
Off of the line Nico Rosberg was faster and had overtaken his teammate on the pole position, Lewis Hamilton, before they reached the first corner. With Rosberg in the front and Hamilton right behind, the racing was clean through turns two and three, but it was the fourth corner where things took a turn for the worse.
Hamilton had a good run on his teammate as they exited the third corner. Hamilton decided to try an overtake on the inside heading into the right hand turn four, while Rosberg decided to move to the inside. This led Hamilton into a wedge that forced him into the grass because he was too fast to stop and it was the only option to avoid getting into the back of his teammate.
While in the grass, Hamilton’s car spun and struck the side of Rosberg’s car as he slid back onto the track. Both cars ended up in the gravel on the outside of turn four with heavy damage. The safety car was deployed to allow the marshals to remove the stricken vehicles from the track.
The stewards announced that they would investigate the issue after the race was over and they reportedly visited the Mercedes team during the race to discuss the issue. The team also had a meeting to discuss the issue. Although most of the team was quite about the issue, the vocal Niki Lauda pinned the blame on Hamilton prior to attending the meeting.
The team surrendered a potential 43 points from Spain. The team will be completing the test at the circuit later in the week before moving on to the Monaco Grand Prix on the weekend on May 29.
Weekend Summary: 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
2016 Spanish Grand Prix Predictions
Hamilton: “please trust in my team”
Reliability A Growing Concern In The Mercedes Garage
