Mercedes once fined Nico Rosberg £360k for a Lewis Hamilton incident that left his career at risk

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Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were best friends during their childhood, but their relationship soured radically while they fought for F1 titles as Mercedes teammates.

The German and Briton developed a close bond as kids after becoming teammates and title rivals in go-karts back in 2000. They also remained friends while rising the ranks towards F1 via Formula 3, and also when Hamilton joined Rosberg at Mercedes for the 2013 F1 season.

But Mercedes perfecting the 2014 F1 engine regulations put Hamilton and Rosberg in direct competition for the biggest prize in four-wheel motorsport. Hamilton also won the F1 drivers’ championship in 2014 and 2015 at Rosberg’s expense, as their relationship started to strain.

Rosberg finally got one over Hamilton when he won the title during the 2016 F1 season. But the German had to give beating the Briton everything he could manage, and he even retired after taking the title. Rosberg became only the second son of an F1 champion to earn a title.

Mercedes fined Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton £360,000 each for their 2016 Spanish Grand Prix crash

Hamilton and Rosberg’s rivalry produced some fantastic races, including at the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix. It also produced a raft of flash points, with the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix arguably the most notorious incident after Hamilton and Rosberg crashed and retired on the first lap.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton’s seven best Mercedes drives before joining Ferrari in 2025

Rosberg got the jump on Hamilton off the line, after losing their fight for pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2016 by 0.280 seconds. But the son of 1982 F1 champion Keke Rosberg had picked the wrong engine setting, which caused him to slow exiting Turn 3.

Hamilton gained rapidly on Rosberg, so the latter drifted across to cover off the inside line at Turn 4. But the defensive move came too late, and Rosberg pushed Hamilton onto the grass. Hamilton spun and crashed into Rosberg, which took them both out of the 2016 Spanish GP.

Mercedes were irate to see both of their drivers retire, with Hamilton and Rosberg’s crash in Barcelona also setting up Max Verstappen to win the 2016 Spanish GP on his Red Bull debut. So, Mercedes fined Rosberg and Hamilton to pay for their repairs, which totalled £720,000.

“I even had a contract that I had to sign, which said that if we ever crashed as teammates, we split the bill 50/50 [between] us drivers,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1 (06/12, 13:33).

“That was very expensive. We shared the Barcelona [bill]. It was £360,000, I remember that. That was just me. That was painful.”

Rosberg added, jokingly: “Obviously, it was Lewis’ fault. What kind of question is that? Like, seriously?”

Mercedes threatened to terminate Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton’s contracts if they crashed again

Not only did their crash in the 2016 Spanish GP see Mercedes fine Rosberg and Hamilton to cover their £360k repair bills, it put their careers with the Silver Arrows at risk. The Brackley bunch were so irate that they threatened to terminate their contracts if there was a repeat.

Niki Lauda was the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes F1 team at the time of Rosberg and Hamilton’s Lap 1 crash at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2016. The three-time F1 champion also revealed in 2017 that Mercedes inserted clauses in their contracts as a result.

“We put some regulations in. We told them, especially in Barcelona when they pushed each other off the track, we said this was unacceptable for Mercedes,” he told Graham Bensinger in 2017. “We have to win, one of you guys has to win, you cannot push each other off.

“We had some rules put in, that you are not allowed to and you have to pay a penalty if you do it again or we will think of releasing you from your contract, because we are team players here and we cannot destroy each other.”

Mercedes did not have to progress with their threat to terminate Rosberg and/or Hamilton’s contracts, given the former retired after winning the 2016 title by five points. Hamilton won further titles in 2017, ‘18, ‘19 and ‘20 before he left Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of 2024.