Hamilton: Rosberg should have been sanctioned

Lewis Hamilton achieved another good result at the Hungarian Grand Prix as he won this event for the fifth time and at the same time signed his fifth success of the season. The pilot Mercedes is now leading the Championship with six points ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg who ceded control of the event at the first corner after starting on pole.

Despite this happy ending for the three-time world champion, the Briton continues to wonder about Nico Rosberg's pole. The German was placed under investigation for non-compliance with a double yellow flag in Q3 following the spin of Fernando Alonso, but the stewards considered that the driver had slowed down sufficiently even if he managed to improve his time.

“We slow down when there is a yellow flag and we prepare to stop when there is a double yellow flag. This is how I've been running for 23 years, underlined the new leader of the Championship at a press conference. Nico had the same speed as his previous lap and he would have struggled to stop if there was a spinning car or marshal on the track. »

“The fact that he was not penalized means that we will have to be careful because we send a message, not only to the drivers (in the paddock) but to those in other championships, that it is now possible to only lose a tenth with a double yellow flag, which is one of the most dangerous scenarios... We could fight for pole in the next race (August 30 at Hockenheim), losing only a tenth in the event of a double yellow flag and put the timer in purple in the sector (which indicates the best overall time). »

Nico Rosberg wanted to defend himself from his teammate's accusations. “You have to significantly reduce your speed with a double yellow flag. I was 20km/h slower in this sector, it's a changing world F1... That's why the commissioners accepted the result. We are always faster on the next lap on a drying track…”, retorted the German.

Lewis Hamilton nevertheless remains happy with his new victory. “I don’t know what the secret is here. A superb team and a trouble-free race are obviously the key to success, but it's a circuit that rewards an aggressive driver well, added the three-time world champion. It was one of the hottest races of my career and it was difficult to manage the tires in those conditions... I didn't think too much about the rankings, but it's really nice to have done the job, especially in due to my slightly behind performances this weekend which were not as brilliant as at Silverstone (Great Britain) for example. »

Hungarian Grand Prix results

Discover the analysis of the Hungarian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2073 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.