Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took full advantage of early contact between Mercedes team-mates and title rivals Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton to win the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Tensions between the Mercedes duo will only be growing after the second-lap incident in which Rosberg sliced up Hamilton’s left rear tyre, and damaged his own front wing, when he tried to overtake him in an effort to regain the lead he had lost at the start.
Team principal Toto Wolff named the incident “absolutely unacceptable” and blamed Rosberg, who finished second. Hamilton’s race was ruined and he eventually retired to trail Rosberg by 29 points in the championship.
Ricciardo meanwhile got his second win in a row and third of the season from fifth place on the grid, ahead of first-time Spa podium finisher Rosberg and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas in dry conditions the day after a wet qualifying.
Rosberg leads the championship with 220 points from Hamilton (191), and Ricciardo, who improved to 156 after 12 of 19 races.
Blame game
Mercedes held a team meeting after which Hamilton alleged that Rosberg said he deliberately caused the collision.
“He said he did it on purpose. He said he could have avoided it. He said ‘I did it to prove a point,’” Hamilton said.
Rosberg, who was booed at the post race podium interview, did not confirm this and rather referred to race stewards who did not investigate as they rated it “a racing incident.
“I didn’t see any risk in trying to overtake so why should I not try? Inside was not possible so I tried round the outside. The opportunity was there,” he said.
Mercedes have allowed Rosberg and Hamilton to race against each other as long as it doesn’t hamper team interest, but tensions have risen steadily throughout the season between them.
Third win
Ricciardo meanwhile underlined his class again — and finished yet again ahead of world champion team—mate Sebastian Vettel for his third win after Canada and Hungary.
Rosberg had a dreadful start from pole as Hamilton and Vettel slipped past, with Hamilton holding off Vettel to lead the way into the first turn. Vettel tried his luck again but went wide which dropped him back to third.
Rosberg tried to recover first place in the second lap which led to the contact.
Rosberg maintained the lead before pitting for a new front wing and fresh rubbers, with Ricciardo climbing from fifth at the start into second at the time — and leading once all drivers had made their first tyre change en route to victory in 1 hour 24 minutes 36.556 seconds.
