Rosberg dismisses conspiracy theories on Hamilton’s win

MONZA — Formula One leader Nico Rosberg felt sore enough at losing Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix without then having to face conspiracy theories suggesting he had done it deliberately, reported Reuters.

The Mercedes driver, who finished second after a mistake at the first chicane while under pressure from winning team-mate Lewis Hamilton, could scarcely believe anyone would suggest such a thing.

“I’ve heard about that, but what would be the reason for me to do something like that deliberately?” asked the German, whose lead was cut to 22 points with six races remaining.

“There is no possible reason. There is no reason the team would ask me to change position, or something like that. The only thing in people’s minds could be Spa, but Spa was a mistake which I’ve apologised for.”

Rosberg accepted blame for the Belgian Grand Prix incident two weeks ago — his car hit the back of Hamilton’s car on the second lap which led to the latter’s race retirement — and was handed an unspecified punishment from Mercedes.

But any suggestion that a restitution of points might form part of that penalty was swiftly dismissed by Rosberg, who braked late and continued straight on at the chicane.

However, retired triple world champion Jackie Stewart was sceptical. “It was a part of the track where there was no real penalty for making that mistake, so I am a little confused,” he was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.

“I thought it was a bit too easy. I thought he could have at least made an effort to get round the corner but he didn’t. The first I thought, ‘That’s wise’ because he knew it wasn’t a difficult thing to believe; the second time I thought, ‘Hello, what’s going on here?’.”

But Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff said only a “paranoid mind” would think of such an idea, and that Rosberg missed the chicane because damaging the tyres would mean another pitstop and lost time.

Television images also showed Wolff smiling as Hamilton took the lead after Rosberg’s error, fuelling the conspiracy theorists.

But Wolff said: “Whoever picks that up and tries to interpret anything in such a picture must be out of his mind. First of all, it’s not live. It wasn’t synchronised with the picture.”

The Austrian explained that he smiled when his two drivers were closing up, with Hamilton chasing down Rosberg, out of a sense of “Here we go again” and anticipation of sparks to come. The footage was then spliced into the live action later. AGENCIES