The Mercedes pair made contact with each other on the final lap of the Red Bull Ring race as Hamilton attempted a pass around the outside of Rosberg at Turn 2.

Rosberg, who had brake problems, ran too wide and ended up damaging his front wing in the incident.

He limped home to finish in fourth place while Hamilton took victory.

The incident was put under investigation, and the stewards deemed Rosberg was at fault, giving him a 10-second time penalty that allowed him to keep fourth position.

The stewards said: "Having taken note of the extensive evidence given by both drivers and the video and telemetry data, it was apparent that Car 44 (HAM) was in front of Car 6 (ROS) – i.e. more than fully alongside – and that the driver of Car 44 could have clearly made the turn (T2) on the track, if not for the resultant collision.

"Car 6 did not allow Car 44 "racing room" and hence the driver of Car 6 was responsible for the collision."

The championship leader was also awarded two penalty points for the accident and a reprimand for not having stopped while his car was damaged.

"We do note the extenuating circumstances and the fact that the driver of Car 6 (ROS) did slow down significantly and attempted to mitigate the risk to other drivers and cars," the stewards added.

"Sucks"

Rosberg said the decision "sucked".

"It doesn't change my result but still they give me the blame, which sucks," he said in a video published on his Facebook page.

"I respect that. I am of a different opinion. But it doesn't help and I see most of you are of a different opinion too which is ncie to see of course."