Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and backroom bigwigs Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe met on Friday to discuss the intra-team collision at Spa Francorchamps that likely cost Mercedes a one-two finish in Belgium.

"During the meeting, Nico acknowledged his responsibility for the contact that occurred on lap 2 of the Belgian Grand Prix and apologized for this error of judgment," the team said in a statement. "Suitable disciplinary measures have been taken."

Mercedes did not elaborate on the measures imposed against Rosberg, in his fifth season with the team based in Brackley, Oxfordshire.

"I have already expressed my regret about the incident but, after meeting with Toto, Paddy and Lewis today, I wish to go a step further and describe it as an error of judgment on my part," Rosberg said in a post on his Facebook page, issued in German and English. "The number one rule for us as teammates is that we must not collide but that is exactly what happened."

Rosberg, trying to overtake Hamilton for the lead on lap 2, clipped Hamilton's rear-left wheel - causing a puncture for Hamilton and mildly damaging his own front wing. The crash cost Hamilton a substantial amount of time as he limped back to the pits. It also spoiled Rosberg's race strategy, forcing him to pit earlier and for longer than planned, as he had to replace his nosecone. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo took advantage of this to claim his second consecutive race win. Three-time winner Ricciardo is the only non-Mercedes driver to have won any of the 12 races this season.

Rosberg ultimately finished second while Hamilton, who suffered further damage to the floor of his car when returning the pits with a missing tire, retired shortly before the end when running out of the points. The result stretched Rosberg's lead over Hamilton in the driver's championship to 29 points.

Despite the disciplinary measures, Mercedes said that the two drivers would still be permitted to battle for position on track: "Mercedes-Benz remains committed to hard, fair racing because this is the right way to win world championships. It is good for the team, for the fans, and for Formula One.

'We have both made mistakes'

Hamilton concurred in a statement on his website, saying that "the fans want to see a clean fight until the end of the season and that's what we want to give them." The Briton also acknowledged "that we have both made mistakes" in the course of the 2014 campaign.

At the previous Grand Prix in Hungary, tension was visible between the rivals and colleagues. Hamilton was repeatedly asked via team radio to make way for Rosberg - who was on an alternative strategy at the time - but refused. The two drivers finished third and fourth, but Mercedes' Wolff said afterwards that the team issued the order believing that both racers could have fought for the win if they had not held each other up at a critical phase.

Rosberg expressed his dissatisfaction after that race, and Hamilton claimed after the collision that the 29-year-old German had told the team he was trying "to prove a point" at Spa. In previous, similar battles between the two drivers this season, Rosberg had run off track or swerved to dodge Hamilton when the Briton took an aggressive defensive line.

Despite the intra-team ructions, Mercedes remain runaway favorites to claim both the constructors' and drivers' championships. Third-placed Daniel Ricciardo is 35 points adrift of Hamilton and 64 behind Rosberg. However, the hugely unpopular new rule for double points to be awarded at the season finale in Abu Dhabi - meaning the winner of that race would claim 50 points - puts the dominant Anglo-German outfit under slightly more pressure than in previous seasons.

It's possible, albeit unlikely, that the double points proposal could be scrapped before that showdown on November 23.

msh/glb (AFP, AP, dpa)