Schumacher discusses Mercedes crash: 'Now there will be team orders'

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell crashed at the first corner of the Qatar GP. Hamilton was unable to continue his race. Two crashing Mercedes cars quickly reminds F1 fans of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's crash in Spain in 2016. Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher discuss the Qatar incident and are critical of the seven-time F1 champion.

Hamilton was quick off the start in Qatar and was on the outside line at the first corner with Russell next to him and Max Verstappen next to him. To make the corner and overtake his teammate, the Mercedes driver steered in sharply. Russell could not get out of the way, resulting in a crash between the Mercedes'. After the race, Hamilton apologised for causing the incident.

Will Mercedes intervene with team orders from now on?

Although the drivers quickly managed to patch things up, and it seems as if the atmosphere has remained good within the team, former F1 driver Schumacher thinks that something may have changed at the silver arrows. Schumacher tells German Sky Sport: "Lewis sent in too early and simply did not give George enough space. Mercedes looked strong and threw away a lot of points. Now, there is some work to do between the two. You can deal with each other however you want, but the team will have to intervene from now on, and it will."

Rosberg, who himself was once at loggerheads with Hamilton, says of the incident: "There is not that much to discuss. It's quite one-sided. Lewis tried it outside because of his soft tyres. He was very fast and had a lot of grip. He made a mistake and sent in a bit too early. It was not a big mistake, but the consequences were significant. Something like this should obviously not happen."