Nico Rosberg was disciplined by Mercedes on Friday after accepting responsibility for a collision with teammate Lewis Hamilton at last weekends Belgian Grand Prix that deepened the rift between the two rivals for the drivers title. Martin Perez Jersey . The tension between the Mercedes pair ratcheted up Sunday when Hamilton claimed Rosberg had admitted to deliberately driving into him on the second lap of the race at Spa. The crash effectively ended Hamiltons hopes of victory — he sustained a puncture to his tire and had to later retire — and Rosberg placed second to increase his championship lead over Hamilton to 29 points. The two drivers attended a meeting at the teams headquarters in Brackley, England, on Friday along with executive director Toto Wolff and technical chief Paddy Lowe, where Mercedes said Rosberg "acknowledged his responsibility for the contact" and "apologized for this error of judgement." "Suitable disciplinary measures have been taken for the incident," the team added in a statement, without disclosing the exact punishment for Rosberg. "Lewis and Nico understand and accept the teams No. 1 rule: there must be no contact between the teams cars on track. It has been made clear that another such incident will not be tolerated. But Nico and Lewis are our drivers and we believe in them." Rosberg tops the drivers standings on 220 points, with Hamilton in second place on 191. There are seven races left, with double points on offer for the seasons last grand prix in Abu Dhabi. "The fans want to see a clean fight until the end of the season and thats what we want to give them," Hamilton said in a statement on his website. "Its going to be a tough road from here but championships have been won from much further back than I am now." Hamilton had been incensed by Rosbergs risky overtaking move that saw him clip and puncture the Britons left tire. "He said he did it on purpose," Hamilton said after the race. "He said he could have avoided it. He said I did it to prove a point." The incident further damaged a relationship that has been in freefall as they chase the drivers title this season. At last months Hungarian GP, Hamilton refused team orders to let Rosberg pass. At the Monaco GP in May, Hamilton was unhappy when Rosberg crashed late in qualifying when under no pressure, leading to a safety car coming out and squandering Hamiltons chances of securing pole position. Hamilton and Rosberg were close friends during their junior days racing karts against each other. "Nico and I accept that we have both made mistakes and I feel it would be wrong to point fingers and say which one is worse than the other," Hamilton said. "Whats important is how we rise as a team from these situations. We win and we lose together and, as a team, we will emerge stronger. "There is a deep foundation that still exists for me and Nico to work from, in spite of our difficult times and differences." Rosberg also released a statement, saying he was "sorry to the fans who were deprived of our battle for the lead in Belgium." "I look forward to concluding the season with hard, fair competition on and off track right up to the final lap of the season in Abu Dhabi," Rosberg said. Drew Robinson Jersey .com) - Jimmy Butler made four key free throws down the stretch to lift the Chicago Bulls over the Boston Celtics, 109-102, on Friday. Russell Wilson Jersey . -- Jay Haas and Peter Jacobsen took the second-round lead Saturday in the Champions Tours Legends of Golf, teaming for a 6-under 48 in windy conditions on the par-3 Top of the Rock course. http://www.officialrangersgearshop.com/ . Five straight losses (and six in the past seven) now dot the schedule – matching their longest skid of the year – after they fell again in New Jersey on Sunday night, topped 3-2 by Cory Schneider and the Devils.MINNEAPOLIS -- Another group of former NHL players has joined the fight for compensation for head injuries they say they incurred while playing, while at the same time targeting the violence of the game that they believe brought about those injuries. Retired players Dave Christian, Reed Larson and William Bennett filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday alleging that the league has promoted fighting and downplayed the risk of head injuries that come from it. "I think the glorified violence is really the Achilles heel for the NHL," said Charles "Bucky" Zimmerman, an attorney at Zimmerman Reed that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the players. "If anything comes of this, the focus on the glorified violence and perhaps the change to that will be a good thing." The lawsuit, which is similar to one brought by former football players against the NFL, joins others filed by hockey players in Washington and New York and seeks monetary damages and increased medical monitoring. The NHLPA declined to comment. A message was left with the NHL seeking comment. Zimmerman also worked on the football litigation, which resulted in the NFL agreeing to pay a $765 million settlement to thousands of former players. That settlement is still awaiting a judges approval, but the headlines it generated have been partially responsible for hockey players mounting their own case against the NHL. "Weve seen it in football. Its now here in hockey. Its of the same genesis," Zimmerman said. "Theres knowledge, we believe, that these type of concussive injuries were known and protections were not put in place appropriately enough and fast enough and rules changes were not implemented even today in fighting. "Players continue to be at risk aand suffer as a result of those risks that they take on behalf of the sport. Delino DeShields Jersey. We think those are unreasonable and they should be changed and the players should be compensated." The lawsuit alleges "the NHL hid or minimized concussion risks from its players, thereby putting them at a substantially higher risk for developing memory loss, depression, cognitive difficulties, and even brain related diseases such as dementia, Alzheimers disease, and Parkinsons disease." One argument that tries to separate the NFL litigation from the NHL case is that by engaging in fighting, players willfully take on the health risks that could come from that. "You could make that argument only to a point," Zimmerman said. "And the point is that the fighting arena would not exist and would be outlawed as it is in every other level of the game had the NHL not condoned it and sold tickets based upon it and promoted the sport in that way. Its not the players that promote the sport in that way because the players dont implement the rules. Its the league that implements the rules. If they would outlaw fighting, there wouldnt be people who would fight." Zimmerman said he thinks more players will join the litigation much in the same way the group of plaintiffs in the NFL case exponentially grew as it progressed. "The light went on for them as the football players story was becoming more told," Zimmerman said. "I think the hockey players started to see that their story was going to be heard and told. Its not that we havent known about football players or hockey players getting hurt. Its now become more important that we talk about it and do something about it rather than just benignly let it continue into the future." 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