I completely disagree.
Firstly, Lewis apologized to Nico in Spain after he used a higher engine setting without authorization from the team. That wasn't Bahrain. In Bahrain, Lewis beat Nico fair and square.
Secondly, in Hungary, Nico was faster than Hamilton in his second stint because he was on relatively new soft tyres. However, he caught up to Hamilton just as his soft tyres were starting to go off, so he couldn't get close enough to overtake. Hamilton even said,
"if Nico can get close enough, he's free to overtake, but I'm not slowing down for him."
If Hamilton conceded that place, he'd have lost too much time and Nico would have passed him at the end of the race.
The team then confirmed that Lewis was correct in not slowing down for Nico.
Lewis is already on the back foot thanks to reliability. So conceding to his team mate is the last thing he wants to do in such a close title fight. Mercedes are going to win the constructors, so the WDC is all that the drivers are focussing on.
Finally, on to Spa.
Lap 2:
- Lewis was ahead of Nico on the Kemmel Straight.
- Nico had the slipstream, and pulled along side lewis before the braking zone at Le Combes. Nico was never ahead of Lewis.
- Lewis then out-braked Nico and had the racing line through Le Combes.
- Nico didn't concede the position entirely, trying overtake around the outside (Nuts!).
- Nico lost ground because he wasn't on the racing line. Lewis was.
- Nico did not comply with the regulations that state that you must have a significant portion of your car alongside the other for you to be given space for a corner.
- Nico's front wing was only just alongside Lewis's left rear tyre. This does not constitute a "significant portion" being along side.
- This was Lewis's corner, and Nico should have backed out.
I don't think it was malicious (contrary to some media reports) but it was 100% Nico's fault, and if you think otherwise, you're blind.
Edit:
However, reports from Mercedes post race debrief have revealed that Nico did not concede the position early enough because he wanted to "prove a point" to Lewis. This means, that he wasn't necessarily trying to hit Lewis, however he was actively putting himself and his teammate in an unnecessarily risky situation. Which by extension, essentially means he did it on purpose, and any incident after that was due to this.
Any shred of respect I once had for Nico after the incident is now gone. The guy is totally classless, and does
not deserve to win this years championship.