Lewis Hamilton doesn’t appear to be pulling back even if he was already guaranteed of the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship this season. After the Mexican Grand Prix he voiced out his dismay about the decision of his team to call for a pit stop. According to a report from BBC Sport, he felt that it denied him the chance to win the race.
Hamilton said in his interview that he didn’t agree with the move, but he followed it anyway. He added he will have a talk about it with his team later.
Based on the source, Peter Bonnington, the race engineer of Hamilton, told the driver to make an extra pit stop due to safety reasons presented by his wearing tyres. The current champion argued there wasn’t any risk though because they already secured the Constructors’ title. He claimed all he wanted was to press on with the race.
Hamilton pointed out he would have won the race by maintaining his 18-second gap in 24 laps from his teammate and eventual winner Nico Rosberg.
Toto Wolff defended the decision of his engineer. He told the source that Hamilton’s tires were more marginal so they opted to go for their move to pit him.
The F1 boss of Mercedes also tried to put into light his driver’s reaction. He stated Hamilton questioned the order because he was clearly looking at an advantage. He felt it was only a natural reaction from his driver.
Wolff assured that everything is cool with his team, because regardless of how it turned out, they wouldn’t have risked a team result.