Nico Rosberg reveals 'painful' Mercedes fine for Lewis Hamilton crash

Nico Rosberg has revealed the sizeable fine he had to pay Mercedes following his famous crash with Lewis Hamilton in 2016. 

At the Spanish GP that year, the team-mates-turned-bitter rivals locked out the front-row, with Hamilton on pole, but a tardy start allowed Rosberg to out-drag the sister W07 down to Turn 1.

As they rounded Turn 3, Rosberg had placed his engine into an incorrect power deployment mode, meaning he was harvesting energy and not deploying it, allowing Hamilton to move up the inside for Turn 4.

Rosberg covered the inside, and the two collided - the latest in their bitter feud.

Both drivers were eliminated on the spot, with Max Verstappen going onto score an unlikely win on his Red Bull debut. 

Following their 2014 Belgian GP collision and 2016 Austrian one, the Spanish wipeout was the only time during their spell together that both Rosberg and Hamilton retired after contact, with  the eventual 2016 champion revealing the hefty fine both were made to pay.

"I had a contract that I had to sign, which said that if ever we crash as team-mates, we split the bill 50-50," Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.

"We shared the Barcelona bill."

The German confirmed that his share of the total of "three hundred and sixty thousand", meaning the total once Hamilton's share was provided was €720,000. 

Rosberg succinctly summed up the situation as "painful."

The collision was not punished by the stewards after an investigation, with it being seen by boss Toto Wolff to be a pressure relief following the build-up of tensions over the final races of 2015 and start of 2016, including the infamous swap of mechanics across both cars.