Hamilton denies accusing Red Bull of cheating
Aug.10 - Lewis Hamilton has denied insinuating that Red Bull under-inflated Max Verstappen's tyres for Sunday's race at Silverstone.
While Verstappen raced to victory and the two Mercedes struggled with excessive tyre problems, world champion Hamilton said on the radio: "He must have less pressure in his tyres or something."
Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos didn't like the sound of that.
"Hamilton is a really bad loser if he's going to assume that," he told Ziggo Sport.
After the tyre problems - including failures - at the first Silverstone race, Pirelli reacted by increasing mandatory tyre pressures for the second.
Hamilton called them "balloons" - but he denied accusing Red Bull of cheating.
"When we start the race we have minimal pressures and they increase during the race," he explained. "With more laps, they go on a steep rise and I assume that we just went on a much steeper rise and increase in pressures.
"They (Red Bull) must be able to keep their pressures lower than ours and that's why ours were blistering. That was just a theory that I had," Hamilton added.
"I wasn't saying that they have different settings to us, because we all have the same minimum."
Given that Red Bull managed to win despite the fact that the Mercedes is clearly a quicker car, Dr Helmut Marko said Sunday gave the energy drink owned team hope.
"There is still a lot to come from us," he said. "The world championship is not over for us yet."
Even Toto Wolff, Mercedes' team boss, agrees with that.
"Red Bull is a title opponent for us," he said. "It will be anything but a leisurely stroll.
"Without the retirement at the first race, Max would be much closer to Lewis now," Wolff added.
"Yes we have the fastest package, but it is not the fastest under all circumstances. That is why we have to learn how to tune our car so that the tyres do not suffer like that."
As for whether Verstappen can repeat his winning feat this weekend in Barcelona, however, Hamilton is not so sure.
"I expect it to be similar to the first Silverstone race," said the championship leader. "The tyres will be at the limit, but not quite as bad as in this race."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Funny. Everyone heard him mention it on his radio to his engineer!
LH doesn't deny what he said, he's just explaining to those who misunderstood his meaning.
Everytime he is losing, he starts ranting on his radio and making accusations. Maybe he should ask Mercedes why they keep throwing Bottas under the bus. Valteri's team strategy only benefited Hamilton, not Bottas which everyone can see. Mercedes is 200% behind Lewis, and play Bottas to their advantage!
hamilton doesn't like it when things don't go his way. Such a sore loser
What a group of ignorant losers in this thread, moi excluded. Lewis formed an interrogatory when he inquired as to the possibility of RB's tire pressure being askanced. Mind you, he was engaged in a heated battle, at the time of his inquiry. Stop hating, it makes y'all look foolish & small. Remember Lewis isn't an outlier among his people only yours. Sooner or later the flood gates will burst and post apartheid F1 will morph into extinction, 'cause silver spooners despite all of their economic advantages don't possess innate attributes to win Championships.
Huh? STFU&D!
Jeez. Hard to follow that logic. The dude said something, then clarified it. That’s the story.
What a load of crap
He clearly accused Max and red bull of under inflating tyres.
Wow Y'all, that was a bunch of garbage! Lewis only cares about Lewis! They rig the races against their own teammate. Pit strategies advantage Lewis even when he's behind. When you hear him whine over the radio, it's because things are not going his way. And lastly, I am deeply offended that he and his team support the "Black Lives Matter" movement which has killed many blacks due to their violent mobs. Yet F1 seems to be oblivious to this Marxist political group, and have never read their website. You have destroyed F1, and now cater to Lewis and his unfair advantage with a car that is much quicker than the field. When Michael was wining over and over , you changed the rules. Now, for some reason, you're content watching Mercedes win year after year. Thanks for all the competition! Reverse the order of the grid, and allow DRS from the start.
Think Lewis needs to a life
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.