Mercedes F1 has dismissed as "paranoid" suggestions that Nico Rosberg had "deliberately made mistakes" to allow his teammate Lewis Hamilton to win Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, according to Paul Weaver of the London GUARDIAN. TV commentators and "other informed observers pointed out that Rosberg had made two strange errors, twice coming off the track when he went straight on at turn one." Mercedes F1 Exec Dir Toto Wolff said, "Only a paranoid mind could have come up with such an idea. We told the drivers not to flat spot the tires, because they would need to pit. So maybe that's why [Nico] didn't try to brake too hard." Rosberg denied the charge when he said, "They [the mistakes] might look a bit strange but I did it in practice. I just messed up" (GUARDIAN, 9/7). In London, Jack De Menezes reported three-time F1 champion Jackie Stewart "believes that something is not quite right about the manner of which Rosberg left the track after appearing to out-brake himself for the second time in the race." Stewart said, "I thought, 'Hello, what's going on here?' He could have at least made an effort to get round the corner but he didn't" (INDEPENDENT, 9/8).
