Hamilton win in doubt over illegal tire pressure (Update)
Lewis Hamilton's Monza victory was in doubt because Pirelli, supported by the FIA, found on the grid that his tire was 0.3 PSI under the new mandatory limit.
Apparently a clear technical breach, with both performance and safety implications, many in the paddock had expected the British driver to be disqualified.
But after a long wait, the FIA finally announced that Hamilton can keep his win.
"The stewards have determined that the pressure in the tires concerned were at the minimum start pressure recommended by Pirelli when they were fitted to the car," a statement read.
It added that Mercedes had set the pressures "supervised by the tire manufacturer", and therefore recommended that the protocols for ensuring actual race-start pressure are improved for the future.
"The stewards recommend that the tire manufacturer and the FIA hold further meetings to provide clear guidance to the teams on measurement protocols," said the stewards.
09/06/15
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| Will Hamilton's win be stripped away? |
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton's Monza win has fallen under a dark cloud.
In the closing laps of the Italian grand prix, the Briton was told by his Mercedes engineers to speed up — but they did not tell him why.
"Those last few laps were not cool," Hamilton said on the victory lap.
And boss Toto Wolff initially told British television Sky immediately after the checkered flag: "It's still a secret."
It soon emerged that Jo Bauer, the FIA's safety delegate, had referred a matter to the stewards about tire pressure.
With the Pirelli blowout saga still looming large, F1's tire supplier had insisted before Monza that teams must increase pressure for Monza.
But on the grid, Pirelli's Paul Hembery said the teams were "mainly" playing ball with the strict new limits.
It emerges that, with a calibrated tire gauge, Pirelli had checked the rear tires of both Mercedes and both Ferraris on the grid — and the pressure on both Mercedes was illegally low.
Nico Rosberg, who eventually retired with an apparent engine failure, was found to be 1.1 PSI under the limit, while Hamilton's left-rear was 0.3 PSI under.
It would not only be a clear technical breach to enhance performance, but also a safety issue, causing the highly experienced Pat Symonds of Williams to surmise that disqualification is the only possible penalty.
"I expect quite a big penalty — disqualification," he said.
"It's a safety issue, so yes (disqualification would be the penalty)," agreed Williams engineer Rob Smedley.
For his part, Wolff insisted Mercedes would not deliberately cut corners on safety, as the Brackley team is "always the first to be sure". And Hamilton said a 0.3 PSI advantage would not be enough to help performance.
"That's not the reason we won today," he insisted.
And Wolff also revealed that tires are pumped up in collaboration with Pirelli representatives, even though Smedley said Williams has fail-safe checks in place.
"We measure them (the tire pressures) with Pirelli," Wolff said on British television BBC. "At the moment we have no detail what is going on."