Lewis Hamilton thought about stalling during the formation lap in Hungary

Le Hungarian Grand Prix was almost a walk in the park for Lewis Hamilton, leader almost from start to finish with a Mercedes W11 at the top of his game on the Budapest turnstile.

However, the Briton had indicated during the formation lap a fear around his Power Unit, with the feeling that it was going to stall. False impression, but one to which Mercedes could not give a response.

“It was a sensor issue that only affected the engine around the idle control, when it was waiting to go for the formation lap, explains Andrew Shovlin, chief race engineer of the world champions.

But it wasn't a problem, it wasn't going to stall and there is protection that would have stopped the engine from stalling anyway, if the situation arose, but we couldn't tell him everything was okay.

This causes rules that prevent you from talking to the pilot during this entire training lap. So we knew everything was okay, but he must have been a little worried until he realized she was leaving. »

It is this famous rule of the impossibility of communicating between wall and driver during the formation lap, except for safety reasons, which notably led to the penalty of both Haas after the race, the American team having helped its two drivers Kevin Magnussen et Romain Grosjean by calling them back into the pit lane at the end of the grid lap to put on slick tires.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Hungarian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondent in Budapest, in AUTO issue 2270hebdo, available now in digital version and on newsstands.