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Stewards hurt Hamilton at Singapore |
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Oct.2 (GMM) Yet another stewards decision, this time at last weekend's Singapore grand prix, played against the McLaren team. The Mercedes-powered outfit arrived in the Asian city-state direct from
Paris, where it lost an appeal against a verdict at the earlier Belgian
grand prix that cost championship leader Lewis Hamilton the race win.
On Sunday in Singapore, the protracted time it took the stewards to
penalise Williams' Nico Rosberg for pitting under the safety car
arguably hurt Hamilton more than it did Rosberg, who finished the race
an unusual second.
"Nico was able to get the hammer down out in front while the stewards
were coming to their decision -- which effectively neutered his
eventual stop-go penalty," McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh
said.
He believes Hamilton, who finished in third place behind Rosberg, might
have won the race had the Briton also broken the rule about refuelling
when the pitlane is closed.
"But, in truth, you can't second-guess things like that, and we brought
Lewis in as soon as the rules allowed, in good faith," Whitmarsh
continued. "Also, to be fair to the stewards, they had a lot to think
about at the time."
Sir Frank Williams also admits the stewards' protracted decision-making in Singapore played to Rosberg's advantage.
"We prayed that the penalty would be announced as late as possible," he
told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, explaining that every extra lap
allowed the driver to pull out a gap.
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