25/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Whilst he shook hands with teammate Nico Rosberg following yesterday's Hungarian Grand Prix, and at least appeared to recognise his existence, unlike Silverstone two weeks ago, at the post-race press conference Lewis Hamilton took the opportunity to take another swipe at the German who will be his team 'mate' for the next two-and-a-half seasons.
Still smarting from missing out on pole position having had to abandon his final lap when Fernando Alonso spun right in front of him, thereby bringing out the yellow flags, Hamilton queried the rule that didn't prevent Rosberg snatching the coveted position.
Following a couple of hours of debate as to whether Rosberg had slowed when the yellow flags were shown, a subsequent investigation by the race stewards cleared the German, supporting his claim that he had slowed sufficiently.
Since the incident, and the stewards decision, the debate has continued, but it was Hamilton who brought it back in to the spotlight.
Having said during the post-qualifying press conference that the yellow-flag rules need to be clarified, Hamilton was asked if he thought his comments had influenced the stewards into investigating the incident.
"Well the stewards needs to come up with some kind of solution because it is... the whole 23 years of racing, it has been 'if it's yellow flag, you slow down' and if it's double yellow flag, you be prepared to stop," said the Briton, "and Nico was doing the same speed at the apex as I was doing on the previous timed lap.
"If there happened to be a car that was spun or a marshal on the track, it would have been pretty hard for him to have slowed down in that case, so that's why," he continued, "and the fact that he didn't get penalised for it means that we need to be careful because the message we're sending not only to the drivers here but also to the drivers in the lower categories is that it's now possible for you to lose only one tenth of a second in a double waved yellow flag section which is the most dangerous – one of the most dangerous scenarios with the double yellow flags.
"They need to clear that up because before it was two tenths that you were meant to lose with one yellow flag and half a second with two yellow flags. It wasn't the case yesterday and there was no penalty, so going into the next race, we could be battling for pole position and we see double yellow flags and we know we only have to do a small lift and lose one tenth of a second and we'll be fine and go purple in the sector.
"So that's why it does need to be clarified and I'm sure Charlie and the stewards are going to do so because it needs to be clear."
Sitting beside him, Rosberg smiled, turned, patted the Briton on the back, and said: "Can I respond? Thank you very much...
"Thank you for making that statement," he continued, "now I'm going to put my response.
"What you have to do with a double yellow is significantly reduce your speed and make sure you go safe. I went twenty kilometres per hour slower into that corner, twenty kilometres per hour is a different world in an F1 car. Twenty kilometres per hour, you are going proper slow. It's completely... everything is safe. That's how I did my speed and lifted off thirty meters before my braking point, so I was just rolling there, twenty kilometres per hour slower until I got to the apex.
"Then of course when you're in the apex, I would have a much tighter line because I went in slow and then so I could accelerate out again. So definitely I significantly reduced my speed and that's what it says you need to do and that's why for the stewards that was completely acceptable.
"It was very, very obvious what I did, very clear and of course on a drying track you're going to get massively faster every lap. It's not like the track was consistent. On a drying track, it's irrelevant what the sector time was because you're going to get so much quicker every time you go out there because there's wet patches and when they dry, you just go so much quicker.
"And so in that segment, I was slower, where there was the yellow flag but of course in the big sector, yeah, I'm quicker because the track is getting quicker and I'm pushing in all the other corners. So it was a pretty clear case for the stewards and that's why I didn't get any penalty."
The debate continues, and it is clear that there does indeed need to be clarification, with some suggesting that in any such incident, waved yellows should be regarded as a form of VSC, immediately requiring drivers to drop to a certain speed and maintain it until given an official all-clear.
However, whilst Hamilton's comments might help in terms of clarifying this particular rule, they have done little to improve his relationship with his teammate.
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