Red Bull principal Christian Horner said the radio rules were “pretty clear” and questioned where Rosberg, who was booed by some in the crowd as he stepped onto the podium, would have finished had Mercedes not given him their advice.
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He crossed the line second but was handed a 10 second penalty for an illegal radio transmission and relegated to third.
“I felt stronger than ever this weekend in the vehicle and I’m sure a large portion of that is the fans”.
With Mercedes opting not to take up the second stage of the appeal process, Rosberg’s ten-second penalty and the resulting demotion from second to third will stand as the final result of the 2016 British Grand Prix. Our understanding of the rules is that this kind of message is allowed – it’s not the kind of driver coaching the rules were created to prevent – so we gave him the necessary information and he did a great job to hold his position and bring the vehicle home. Max Verstappen was promoted to third.
Hamilton led every lap of a race that started under the safety vehicle in wet conditions but dried.
A heavy shower shortly before the start caused a safety vehicle start, and when the safety auto went in on lap five several teams including Ferrari went straight into the pits for the intermediate tyres.
Hamilton managed his tires while Rosberg attacked the Dutchman relentlessly, but in vain, until lap 38 when he swept past and began to hunt down his teammate.
Later in the race, he was told that Rosberg, who had regained second place, had a gearbox problem.
Rosberg and Mercedes were judged to be guilty of breaking the new radio rules set by the FIA which ban any radio transmission which would act as “aiding the driver”.
Rosberg said: “It was a very critical problem because I was stuck in seventh gear and about to stop on track”. The champion team now has 96 hours to determine whether it will follow through with an official appeal via its ASN, the Deutschen Motorsport Bund (DMSB).
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“Having considered the matter extensively, the stewards determined that the team have some instructions to the driver that were specifically permitted under technical directive 014-16”, the stewards’ statement said.
