Lewis Hamilton’s 40th career victory in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix was confirmed when the stewards at the race meeting decided to take no further action after investigating claims that his Mercedes-GP car was running on tyres that infringed the regulations.
In a statement, the stewards said they had determined that the pressure in the tyres concerned were at the minimum start pressure recommended by Pirelli when they were fitted to the car.
This fact and the team’s adherence to safety procedures was sufficient evidence of Mercedes’ good intent to sway the decision in their favour.
It was claimed earlier in a report by the sport’s technical delegate Jo Bauer that the left rear tyres on the Mercedes cars of both defending double world champion Hamilton and his teammate Nico Rosberg were “below the specified minimum tyre starting pressure” when checked on the grid before the race.
This, members of rival teams said, was enough to represent a breach of the sport’s technical regulations and should result in disqualification.
But after the stewards spoke to the technical delegate and representatives of both Mercedes and Pirelli, they took into consideration that Mercedes’ tyre warming blankets had been disconnected from their power source and that their tyres were “significantly below” the maximum permitted tyre blanket temperature when measured on the grid.
In addition, according to the statement, “the stewards are satisfied that the team followed the currently specified procedure supervised by the tyre manufacturer for the safe operation of the tyres”.
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes executive director, said he and the team had been confident they would not face sanction, but he acknowledged that he was confused as to how they had been measured below the minium pressure mark.
“We were exactly on the minimum pressures like we should have been when the tyres were put on the car,” he said.
“I don’t know where the discrepancy came from, but it was not a mistake done by the team in order to gain an advantage.”
The minimum tyre pressure limit had been brought in after both Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel had suffered punctures in Belgium last month, and Pirelli, F1’s tyre supplier, were satisfied no further action had been needed.
“We are totally sure no one is cheating,” Pirelli spokesman Roberto Boccafogli said.
Mercedes had been told of the investigation mid-race. They responded by telling Hamilton to increase his pace in a bid to create an advantage to deal with a possible time penalty for the issue, and he finished 25 seconds ahead of Vettel.
The investigation was the only threat Hamilton faced all day. On the track, he was peerless as he led all 53 laps on his way to his seventh win of the season.
He held off a challenge from Vettel, who had tried to go around the outside of him at Turn 1 at the start, and that was as close as the rest of the field got to him as he pulled away, often going more than half-a-second faster than anyone else.
“This weekend’s been just fantastic, a perfect weekend for me,” said Hamilton, who topped the times in each practice session, took pole position and set the fastest lap on his way to a third win at Monza in four years.
“I don’t know if I have ever had a weekend like this,” the 30-year-old Briton added. “This circuit is such a special one for me.”
Everything went Hamilton’s way as Rosberg, his nearest championship challenger, stopped with an engine problem three laps from the end as he ran in third place.
The consequence is that Hamilton holds a 53-point lead over the German with seven races and 175 points left to be won.
Rosberg said of his title chances: “It is a massive step in the wrong direction. I keep going. Giving up doesn’t exist for me.”
VETTEL’S ‘GREAT CAR’ ONLY GOOD ENOUGH FOR SECOND
Sebastian Vettel acknowledged he and his Ferrari did not have the pace to fight with Lewis Hamilton for victory in the Italian Grand Prix.
The German, who had won the race three times before, once with Toro Rosso and twice with Red Bull Racing, finished 25.1 seconds behind Hamilton’s Mercedes-GP at Monza as he achieved his eighth podium finish of the season.
Vettel had stayed within three seconds of Hamilton in the opening laps of the race to briefly hint at being able to compete with the Briton, but from then on the Mercedes man proved to be too strong as he pulled away at a rate of more than half-a-second a lap.
Vettel said of the performance gap: “They were quick on race pace, quicker than us, but potentially they had a bit better tyre wear or tyre degradation, let’s put it this way, so I think that made the difference.
“On the first three laps I had a bit of hope and then, to be honest with you, I saw them going away, so yeah, that was that.”
Hamilton’s victory had briefly been under threat as Mercedes were investigated for their cars running with their tyres below the minimum starting pressure defined by Pirelli come the start of the race.
But Hamilton and Mercedes were cleared by the race stewards, and Vettel had said before the investigation he was not been looking for his rivals to be punished.
“I was second on the podium and that’s the emotions I got and I’m grateful for them,” he said.
“I had a great car today, not good enough to win but good enough to just finish second.”
Next year’s race at Monza could be the last at venue, with no contract renewal agreement having been reached by organisers and Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 chief executive.
Vettel, who was racing yesterday at Monza for the first time as a Ferrari driver, said it was important that it remains on the F1 calendar due to the partisan Italian crowds, who attend the race to cheer on their local team.
“If we take this away from the calendar for any money reasons, I think you are basically ripping our hearts out,” he said.
“We are here, we are racing and this makes it so much more worthwhile. It’s what we’re here for. You stand on the grid, you look to the left, you look to the right, people are just happy to be part of it and it makes our day. So, simple as that. It’s incredible.”
It was a frustrating day for Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who fell from second to last at the start as his car bogged down badly.
The 2007 world champion fought back through to the field to finish fifth, and he said: “Obviously I’m a bit disappointed as we were hoping for a better result in our home race in front of all our fans, but if we think that after the first hundred metres we were last it was still a good result.”
As to the problem at the start, he said: “As far as I know I did everything correctly, but the car went into the anti-stall and did not move at all.”
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