Nico Rosberg comments on infamous Lewis Hamilton crash: "Extremely intense"

Nine years after Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton clashed at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, the former German racer has discussed how the incident further poisoned the relationship between him and the seven-time champion at the Mercedes team.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 broadcast ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Rosberg opened up on the crash that ended his Barcelona campaign all those years ago.

"So I took the lead round the outside of Lewis and I had the wrong engine setting and that slowed me down on the way to Turn Four," Rosberg explained.

"And Lewis tried to go for the inside. I blocked very late, very aggressively. He went over the grass and on the data, we could see he never lifted, he kept flat on the grass, which is unbelievable. Then of course it came to the collision, which really is the worst case. And it's also dangerous."

He was further pressed on how his already strained relationship with his then-team-mate was affected by the crash that ended both their races.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid and Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid collide on the opening lap

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

"It was already bad, so it didn't really change too much. It just made it even worse. It was an extremely intense and difficult situation to manage internally. Lewis and I not speaking and trying to... and also the internal politics and who's on whose side and who's to blame... It was very tough."

With Hamilton starting from pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya alongside Rosberg in 2016, both drivers lasted just four corners before disaster struck.

“We let the drivers race, and sometimes this is what happens," team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports at the time.

The late Niki Lauda was less forgiving in his assessment:

“Completely unnecessary, I would say,” he admitted on the same broadcast. "For me, the disaster is that both are out after two corners is for me unacceptable.

“Lewis was too aggressive to pass him, and why should Nico give him room? He was in the lead. It was a miscalculation in Lewis’s head, I blame him more than Nico.

“But for the team, for Mercedes, it is unacceptable.”

The relationship between the two drivers was sour, but it was managed by Lauda who integrated stronger rules of engagement into the team's strategy that season. These rules included paying a penalty, or even releasing a driver from their contract.

Rosberg won the drivers' championship by five points that year and retired at the peak of his career.