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Collision course

Steven LynchAugust 30, 2014
Nico Rosberg has taken responsibility for hitting Lewis Hamilton at Spa © Getty Images
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After the Mercedes accident-waiting-to-happen, what's the most famous F1 crash between team-mates? asked James Porter

I suppose some people might vote for the clash between Red Bull rivals Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in Turkey back in 2010. It put Vettel out of the race, while Webber slipped back to third overall. That was the first year of the new points system, awarding 25 for a win: Vettel ended up with 256 points, just ahead of Fernando Alonso with 252 and Webber with 242.

But probably the most famous clash - and one that has been frequently mentioned during the Mercedes shenanigans - was the one between McLaren team-mates Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna at the Japanese GP in 1989.

On the 46th lap of 53, their cars touched and both spun off: Prost couldn't restart, but Senna did, weaving through an escape road, rejoining the circuit and going on to take the chequered flag.

Prost had held a narrow lead in the championship before the race started, but Senna's apparent victory seemed to overturn that. However, Prost was crowned champion anyway after Senna was disqualified for using the escape road.

The following season at Suzuka the pair - no longer team-mates, as Prost had joined Ferrari - touched again. This time both were out of the race - and the 1990 championship went to Senna, who was narrowly ahead on points at the time. He always denied deliberately causing the crash.

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