Lewis Hamilton believes he can no longer trust Nico Rosberg after sensationally claiming his Mercedes teammate deliberately crashed into him in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The war between the duo is now firmly under way after Hamilton lobbed in a hand grenade that sent shockwaves through the sport.
Hamilton’s race was wrecked by a lap-two puncture sustained after the front right-wing endplate of Rosberg’s car hit his left-rear tyre.
Damage to the car sustained from the three-mile return to the pits eventually forced Hamilton to retire five laps from home.
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Rosberg, meanwhile, went on to finish runner-up behind race-winner Daniel Ricciardo who is on the fringes of the title hunt following his third victory this year for Red Bull Racing.
Following a heated post-race meeting between Hamilton, Rosberg, motorsport boss Toto Wolff, executive technical director Paddy Lowe and non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, the Briton then appeared dazed as he tried to convey what he had just heard from the German.
“I was gobsmacked when I was listening to the meeting,” said Hamilton.
“He just came in there and said it was all his fault, that he could have avoided it, but he didn’t want to.
“He basically said he did it on purpose. He said he did it on purpose, he said he could have avoided it.
“He said ‘I did it to prove a point’, he basically said ‘I did it to prove a point’. And you don’t have to just rely on me, go and ask Toto, Paddy and all those guys who are not happy with him as well.”
Given the incident in qualifying in Monaco when Rosberg appeared to deliberately run down a slip road to bring out yellow flags and deny Hamilton’s bid for pole, the latter knows the trust has gone.
“When you’re out there you have to trust people to think with their heads and not do things deliberately,” said Hamilton.
“But after that meeting I don’t really know how to approach the next race. All I know is I’ve got to push.”
In allowing his drivers to race this season, Wolff had also made it clear they could not crash into one another under any circumstances.
With Rosberg shattering such an order, Hamilton expressed fears the team would do nothing more than give him a slap on the wrist.
Wolff has suggested, however, some sanction will be taken as he said: “If Lewis has said that, that there’s going to be no consequence, he is not aware of what consequences we can implement.
“We’ve seen the limits of the slap on the wrist. Maybe the slap on the wrist is not enough.”
Wolff, though, refused to expand on what possible punishment could be meted out as further talks are due to take place over the next few days.
“I’m extremely upset about what’s happened today, not about the fact two cars have crashed into each other, I’m very upset because we’ve defined rules all together and we’ve broken those rules,” said Wolff.
“I feel let down. Whoever it would have been, Lewis or Nico, I feel let down and the team has been let down.
“The incident, as I see it, is not acceptable for us. What we saw there was that Nico was not prepared to take the exit, and that caused the collision. That is not something we want to happen.”
Asked specifically about changing the policy of them fighting, Wolff said: “Unfortunately, yes.”
Rosberg, meanwhile, admitted for the first time to “regret” over his Spa shame with Hamilton, but is still refusing to apologise.
After Hamilton claimed the German said his actions were intentional Rosberg went to his his Facebook page to suggest what unfolded was “a racing incident”.
“That was a tough race,” said Rosberg.
“We had the pace to win, but the incident cost us a top result, so I’m really disappointed because for the team it was a bad day.
“As drivers we are here to entertain and show the fans a good time, so our duels are always on the limit.
“I regret that Lewis and myself touched, but I see it as a racing incident – just as the stewards did.
“I was quicker down the straight and went to the outside as the inside line was blocked.
“I gave it a go, and after we touched I realised my front wing was damaged and thought that was it.
“In the next second I saw Lewis also had a problem, which was very unfortunate for him and for the team.
“We sat down quickly after the race, but there will be some more meetings to be held in order to avoid races like this.”
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