Originally Posted by indiana44:
“I think in all the circumstances the team considered that their initial call for Lewis to let Nico through could be seen as unreasonable by Lewis ( they were still on for big constructor points and the two drivers were meant to be fighting for the championship with neither given precedence, ahead in the championship or not ).
Nico it seems has overreacted, and possibly already been privately saying stuff that had the team management wary about what might develop in the future.”
The problem is that the dispute seemed to last throughout the race. While Mercedes accepted that Hamilton wouldn't move over they - from what we heard - never said that they felt they made an error; more that they backtracked as Hamilton argued.
Originally Posted by David Tee:
“"These people" are professional racing drivers, with finely tuned instincts and incredible reaction times. They know only too well what will cause an accident, and how to avoid it - even when they're right on the edge.
For reasons that may, may not, become clear, Rosberg decided to make a point - he chose to persist. It was a conscious decision - to use your words, it was intended and it was deliberate. Given that Hamilton had no reason to give way, once Rosberg had made that decision an accident was always a strong possibility.
I'm sure that Rosberg didn't want to cause an accident - but that's not the point. The decision he took led to the accident.”
But there have been numerous accidents even more ludicrous than today's which, going by your argument, professional racing drivers should have avoided.