Mercedes shock Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg suspension review revealed

2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg has revealed that he learned Mercedes had considered handing both him and Lewis Hamilton a one-race suspension following the Spanish Grand Prix that year.

At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2016, the most dramatic incident of Rosberg and Hamilton's time as teammates took place, with the pair crashing out on the opening lap.

The duo fought aggressively through the opening corners before colliding on the short straight between Turns 3 and 4. It was a disaster for the Silver Arrows, as it opened the door for their rivals.

Not only did the race become famous for the intra-team Mercedes clash, but it also saw Max Verstappen become an F1 race winner at just 18 years old.

As for Rosberg and Hamilton, the incident led to a heated post-crash debrief with team principal Toto Wolff, who was furious with the pair.

Discussing what happened in the initial meeting after the crash, Rosberg told the High Performance podcast: "First of all, there was Toto throwing the headset on the table, destroying the headset. There was that moment without the headset, though.

"There was no headset in his hand. He came in and was like, 'What the hell are you guys doing out there?' Because we handed the win to Red Bull, of course. That's the worst thing you can do, you know—hand the win to the fierce enemy, Red Bull. That's the most horrible thing.

"So Toto was not happy with that."

The crash between Rosberg and Hamilton saw Mercedes' control over the duo hit rock bottom, with the retired champion having since revealed that Wolff held discussions with then-Mercedes-Benz chief Dieter Zetsche.

Asked if Wolff considered firing his two drivers, the retired champion replied: "It never came to being fired. No, but I know he actually had internal discussions with the big boss, Dieter Zetsche, about taking a step. 

"I don't think it was about being fired; it was probably a suspension or something that would have been a first step—for a race, yeah, something like that. 

"So there was actually that conversation behind closed doors. It never came to us, but that's pretty crazy."

Rosberg forced to pay huge fine

While suspensions were ultimately ruled out, Wolff did take immediate action to stop Hamilton and Rosberg from crossing the line when battling each other.

The Austrian presented both drivers with a contract stating that they would be liable for 50% of any crash damage. In Rosberg's case, this led to a significant fine later in the season.

Explaining more of how Wolff dealt with the situation, Rosberg continued: "I didn't hear it at the time (the risk of suspension). 

"What Toto did was put a contract on the table that we had to sign, and it was 50% of the damage cost that I had to pay myself, and it didn't matter whose fault it was.

"So even if it was 90% Lewis' fault, I had to pay 50% of the actual damage we caused. For one of the crashes, I had to pay $360,000. 

"That was what I had to pay, so that definitely calmed us down. That was expensive. That was not really a fun exercise. So that was one thing he did: contract on the table."