Their hero already condemned to starting the Russian Grand Prix from tenth, Lewis Hamilton fans faced an anxious wait overnight to see if the team would need to change his engine and thereby incur an additional penalty.

However, as the German team revealed on Sunday morning all the parts changed were permissible without penalty. However, the team did not have a spare fuel system of the latest spec in Russia and therefore one had to be flown out from Brackley overnight.

"It was a team effort from many people," said Wolff. "Niki Lauda tried to organise the plane and the slot and we had various options at certain stages and had to choose which one would come in earliest.

"Paddy's assistant Nicole, who happens to be Russian, sorted out the airport and we got the plane, got the bit on the plane, got the guy on the plane and Bernie sorted the customs.

"The details were that the plane landed and within ninety seconds the box was in the car and on the way to the track so I don't want to know how he sorted that. He played a huge role in making Lewis start."

Check out our Sunday gallery, here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Yeyox02, 02/05/2016 20:55

"Mr Bribery in action."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Kkiirmki, 02/05/2016 20:20

"It's not the "act of assistance" that's getting the negative response", would Bernie have done the same thing for Rio Haryanto at Manor? It's not like Hamilton wouldn't have started the race, it's just that he would have started another 10 places back. And, before it's mentioned, Hamilton being the world champion should have no bearing on the situation. The same rules (should) apply to everyone. "

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by ClarkwasGod, 02/05/2016 16:52

"Even an act of assistance gets a negative response. Sad."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by hussainahm, 02/05/2016 13:15

"Bernie and The Vlad are best buddies, so there's no need to speculate how it was done."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Ecclestone played "huge" part in getting Hamilton to Sochi grid

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page