Nico Rosberg’s error under pressure at Monza has opened a gap in the door for Lewis Hamilton while fuelling some conspiracy theories in the battle for the Formula One championship.
Rosberg admitted his mistake gifted his Mercedes team-mate victory at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, but said his second place was “not a disaster” - and certainly not deliberate.
However after the collision between the two Mercedes drivers in Belgium two weeks ago, for which Rosberg was reprimanded by the team and later apologised, the team had to deny a suggestion it had engineered the outcome.
However the team dismissed any suggestion it was trying to level things out after Rosberg ruined Hamilton’s race in Belgium.
I just messed up. What would be the reason for me to do something like that deliberately? There is no possible reason.
Rosberg said it was Hamilton’s pressure on him around the mid-way stage of the race that contributed to the error at Turn One of the high-speed track.
“Lewis was quick, coming from behind,” Rosberg said.
“I needed to up my pace and then as a result just went into the mistake. That was very bad and lost me the lead in the end.”
Hamilton was quickest throughout the weekend and appears to have the psychological ascendency, even if Rosberg still holds a 22-point lead.
Hamilton suggested Rosberg did not like having pressure on him.
“I knew that was the best time to put pressure on him,” he said. “I did it a couple of races ago and he doesn’t seem to like it so I’ll try it a bit more.”
Mercedes team who enjoyed a seventh one-two finish this season. The team can now hope the pressure has been reduced ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix on September 21.
Ferrari’s home race was meanwhile a massive disappointment for the tifosi. Fernando Alonso retired with a hybrid system failure while Kim Raikkonen was ninth in the team’s worst result of the season.
Williams have overtaken Ferrari in the constructors’ championship to go third after Felipe Massa finished third and Valtteri Bottas fourth following a poor start.
Daniel Ricciardo once again beat Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull battle, but different tyre strategies helped the Australian get past the four-time world champion for fifth place.
Fifth and sixth place “at a circuit dominated by Mercedes-powered cars is damage limitation achieved,” team principal Christian Horner said.
