The collision between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg from the Spanish Grand Prix is definitely the most memorable moment of their mutual rivalry and at the same time one of the most memorable moments of the last decade in Formula 1. Especially Nico Rosberg often remembers the famous collision, since he also went on the media track after the end of his career.
Maybe Lewis Hamilton will talk about it after his career is over, but maybe he won’t need to when his former team-mate has talked about it so much over the last ten years that we’ve got a pretty good overview of the aftermath of the incident. Hamilton’s battle with Rosberg that year culminated in a battle in Abu Dhabi, where the former tried to slow down the field as much as possible to complicate Rosberg’s path to the podium, which was a necessary condition for winning his first title.
Nico succeeded, but in light of the intense battle and rivalry, he subsequently told himself that he would quit and rather devote himself to his family, who had to sacrifice a lot to allow him to achieve his lifelong dream. From that moment on, he appears on the circuit only as a TV expert and shares with his fans various incidents from his career. Many of them refer to the incident from Spain.
“When I signed the contract, I also had to agree that if I ever collided with a teammate, we would split the repair bill 50-50,” he said Rosberg for Sky Television. “So we shared the bill for the Barcelona collision. It was a painful €360,000.”
So the bill for repairs apparently climbed to an astronomical 720,000 and both riders had to pay equally for the damages, regardless of fault. Neither of them admitted guilt in the final after the incident, but they did not even address the provisions of the contract. Tough businessman and co-owner of the team Toto Wolff made sure when creating the contract that he, the car company and the sponsors would not pay for the whims of the pilots.
Both drivers were 360,000 euros poorer, but winning the title in Abu Dhabi was a perfect patch for Nico. A few days after the success of his life, he said that he would quit racing forever. Now he provides popular and oft-quoted opinions on current events, sometimes also about his former teammate, who was often talked about last season, but not in the usual superlatives.
“I think we’d agree that he’s the greatest driver of all time, but he can’t end his career in this situation. He’s in a really terrible situation and no doubt it’s bothering him a lot.” he said Rosberg on Hamilton’s 2025 season.
“He’s trapped because he can’t quit now. How long would he be replaced? Plus he’d lose face. He’s embarked on a big project and he can’t leave after twelve months just because it’s not going well. But it’s not going to be easy to continue either. It’s challenging.” added the 2016 world champion.
