Mercedes Chastised Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg With $360K Punishment To Get Along

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s crash at the 2016 Spanish GP remains one of Mercedes’ darkest moments in F1 history. To deal with it, the Brackley-based outfit made the two drivers pay for damages and Rosberg reveals he had to pay $360K as punishment.

2016 featured one of the most intense intra-team championship battles of all time between Rosberg and Hamilton. Once best friends, they became bitter rivals and were desperate to topple one another to stand on the top step come the end of the season.

Rosberg, who missed out on the championship to Hamilton in 2014 and 2015, in particular, was itching to get the better of the Briton. Going neck to neck in the Spanish GP, Rosberg and Hamilton crashed, which resulted in a DNF for both.

not only did they do this, they made nico and lewis pay for the damage https://t.co/OmufibV1rn pic.twitter.com/VFp08qtaxq

— roxane (@sebsclaren) April 24, 2024

The team was furious, as were the higher-ups back at Mercedes who labeled this ordeal as an embarrassment. Rosberg and Hamilton’s rivalry became so fierce that it was affecting Mercedes as a whole. As revealed by Rosberg, the Silver Arrows came up with a unique solution to prevent something similar in the future.

They made the German driver and Hamilton pay for the damages sustained during the 2016 Spanish GP. And for Rosberg, it amounted to $360,000, as he revealed in the interview. The plan, however, worked as the two were careful and prevented similar incidents from thereon.

Nico Rosberg’s win over Lewis Hamilton brought an end to their rivalry

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were best friends since their childhood and even after making it to F1, their bond was unbroken. However, things unraveled after Hamilton joined Mercedes in 2014. Driving for a championship-contending team, neither wanted to give the other an inch of space.

Their friendship turned into a rivalry that turned into animosity eventually. In 2014 and 2015, Hamilton defeated Rosberg without too much trouble, but the latter was determined to throw everything at his former best friend in 2016.

Rosberg pushed the Stevenage-born driver to the limit and stood tall come the end of the campaign. The whole affair and the rivalry took such a big toll on Rosberg that he decided to retire from F1 after the 2016 season.