Lewis Hamilton, Spanish GP, Ferrari, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Hamilton forced to PAY damages over controversial Spanish GP incident

Lewis Hamilton was left counting the costs after major Barcelona incident

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Friday 6 June 2025 20:13 Updated: 19:53

Formula 1 legend Lewis Hamilton has been caught up in his fair share of controversial on-track incidents across his career.

But as two McLarens look to battle it out for the 2025 title, Hamilton's former team-mate has revealed what their rivalry truly cost them after a crash at the Spanish Grand Prix.

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Hamilton and fellow champion Nico Rosberg raced alongside one another at Mercedes between 2013 and 2016, with one particular clash standing out among their time on track together.

At the 2016 Spanish GP, Hamilton and Rosberg collided on the first lap of the race, leaving team boss Toto Wolff despairing and providing an age-old example of why some racing stars should not be left to simply race their team-mate 'fairly'.

Heading into the 2025 Spanish GP last weekend, things were tight at the top of the drivers' standings with McLaren star Oscar Piastri leading the pack just three points ahead of his papaya team-mate Lando Norris.

In his role as a pundit with Sky F1 at the race, Rosberg, not one to usually reserve opinion, issued a warning to McLaren principal Andrea Stella, saying: "My two cents are, unfortunately, that's a recipe for disaster to trust the drivers!"

Speaking during coverage of this year's race in Barcelona, Rosberg referred to his own infamous clash with Hamilton, explaining: "I closed up at the last moment, very aggressively of course. Suddenly Lewis was gone from the rear-view mirror, I didn't know where he was. Because he was next to me on the grass."

Both Mercedes' were immediately ruled out of the race as a result of the incident and at the end of the 2016 season, Rosberg took the championship title for the first and last time, famously announcing his retirement from the sport just days after earning his maiden victory.

Reflecting on the example of what happens when you let team-mates race, Rosberg then revealed: "At the time, we had addenda to our contracts. No matter who is at fault - if we crash, we have to pay for the damage ourselves."

The 39-year-old then revealed both he and Hamilton had to part ways with some serious money to cover the crash damages, saying: "We had to split the costs 50/50. That cost me 380,000 euros at the time. After that, I was a bit more relaxed when my team-mate was around."

Should McLaren choose a number one F1 driver?

Whilst Piastri and Norris haven't yet reached the dizzying heights of Hamilton and Rosberg's complicated relationship, being a good team-mate in F1 often comes with a confusing blend of being selfish when necessary yet never taking your eye off the prize in the constructors' standings.

Yes McLaren have stormed ahead in the standings and after this year's Spanish GP, sit comfortably at the top, 197 points ahead of closest competitor Ferrari.

That being said, the drivers' championship is still tight and whilst Norris was billed as Max Verstappen's main title rival in 2024, the British racer never really applied enough pressure to the Dutchman for his campaign to be considered a serious threat by Red Bull.

As far as the papaya F1 team are concerned, if they can keep both drivers happy without naming a number one in their lineup, they could keep the strongest driver duo on the grid well into the next iteration of regulations, which could prove vital for the 2026 championship and beyond.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here she realised her background in journalism and love of motorsport could be combined, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work more closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan which she hopes to build on.

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Lewis Hamilton McLaren Toto Wolff Spanish Grand Prix Nico Rosberg