Everyone knows the cardinal sin in Formula 1, for any driver, is to collide with their teammate in any way, shape, or form. When Nico Rosberg bumped into Lewis Hamilton’s rear wheel today at the Belgian GP a virtual firestorm of suggestions, innuendos, and straight out accusations went flying. While this reflects poorly both on the drivers involved and the team, it also can cost a team quite a bit of money in a sport where everything comes at a very high price. Inspired by the tap Rosberg gave Hamilton today, take a look back at some of the most famous, or rather infamous, collisions in Formula 1 history.
Infamous teammate battles in Formula 1
First up are a series of collisions between David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Throughout their time together at McLaren, these two battled on more than one occasion. In the 1996 Portugese GP, Hakkinen crashed into the back of Coulthard in the slow corners of the track, an accident that each driver attributes to the other. In 1999 at both the Austrian GP and the Belgian GP the two tangled again. In Austria, Coulthard stuck his nose on the inside of the Finn and caused both of them to wreck in the process when he caught Hakkinen’s wheel. In Belgium, after a poor start, it was Hakkinen’s turn to try to take the inside on a corner, to which he found himself pinched out, in second place, and most upset by the turn of events. McLaren wasn’t happy about such antics but as both drivers were consistent and successful the best they could do was to manage the hostility and channel the frustration in a positive direction, they hoped.
Next, there is the dynamic duo of Ralf Schumacher and Juan-Pablo Montoya and their four seasons as teammates at Williams. This pair found reasons to get tangled up several times, costing both points, position, a great deal of money for the team. The most memorable of their entanglements came in the 2002 U.S. GP and the 2004 European GP. While blame and responsibility would be hard to pinpoint in either situation, Williams, and each of their drivers, had enough and the drivers both went to other teams for the 2005 season.
Some drivers seem have problems with multiple teammates for various reasons. Mark Webber was hit by then teammate Nico Rosberg (who will be addressed again shortly) in the 2006 Brazilian GP. Williams was again the team struggling with high levels of competition between its drivers. The start of the race saw Rosberg slam into the back of Webber, taking Webber out of the race and causing involvement in a later crash for himself. Not a good way for Williams to start the Brazilian GP in a season that would be its worst one to date. Webber had been in collisions with two other teammates on different teams, in addition to Rosberg, and his ability to get along with other drivers was beginning to be questioned at the time.
Webber’s problem with teammates continued when he found himself tangling with a teammate in one of the most infamous teammate battles in recent memory at the 2010 Turkish GP. Sebastian Vettel was Webber’s teammate then and the two had a tumultuous relationship at best. Problems with team orders from Red Bull were rumored to be the problem, along with different personalities and driving styles. The two had tangled previously at the 2007 Japanese GP and their crescendo of tension was causing big problems within the Red Bull hierarchy. The collision in 2010 only served to ratchet up the tension another notch and set the stage for an epic battle between the two that would later be rumored to contribute to Webber’s departure from F1.
Now would be a good time to address the issue with Rosberg and Hamilton today. Mercedes has been carefully attempting to manage the growing hostility between the two, however, their differences in personalities, styles, and temperaments don’t seem to be able to be ignored any longer. Whether Rosberg purposefully gave Lewis a tap or not, tangling with a teammate is always a big no-no and should be avoided at all cost, no matter what message you are trying to send him.
Finally we come to a collision of legends. Two drivers so historic in scope their collision, as their contribution to racing, cannot be ignored. At the 1989 Japanese GP Ayrton Senna collided with Alain Prost. McLaren was the team in which two of the greatest racers of all time were stabled, yet the atmosphere was not a tranquil, or even productive, one. During the race, Senna saw an opportunity to pass his teammate while Prost was under braking. Prost did not give in and the two went skidding off the track with their wheels locked. Both drivers were battling for the championship at the time and both had such tremendous talent that the winner would have been hard to guess. Senna, however, ended up being disqualified for an illegal chicane-cut and Prost went on to win the championship. In the heat of the battle McLaren had stood to lose both cars and valuable points that could make or break a championship.
While it is understandable that drivers may quarrel, or personalities clash, it is an unspoken rule that a driver does not battle, engage, or especially collide with their teammates, thus embarrassing themselves and their teams. Racing is one thing, retaliation is, however, quite another and driver collisions are never acceptable or to be tolerated.
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