After the Silverstone British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has managed to cut down his teammate’s lead to just 1 point.
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Lewis Hamilton has closed the gap between himself and Nico Rosberg in the F1 drivers’ world championship to just one point – without even taking to the track.
With five laps left, Rosberg encountered gearbox problems that had him stuck in seventh gear, and stewards are now checking to see if the amount of information exchanged exceeded the maximum allowable under the new team radio rules.
Engineer:: “Avoid seventh gear, Nico, avoid seventh gear”. The stewards ruled that some of the instructions relayed to Rosberg were permitted but others were not. “Still some decent points”.
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 on to the podium, would have finished had Mercedes not given him their advice.
Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda was also asked about the messages, replying: “If you have a terminal failure you connect”.
“I think Lewis will win”, he told Bild am Sonntag. I was by the beach, by the sea, and I felt fresh, (I had) plenty of sleep, good vibes, good food and good people and that started me out on the best week I have had all year, without a doubt.
“On the slow-down lap I was waving to the crowd and everyone was cheering”. All of a sudden it rained and it was so tricky in those conditions.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was fourth, with former world champion Kimi Raikkonen fifth for Ferrari and Britain’s Jenson Button 12th.
The result means Rosberg heads to Hungary in a fortnight’s time with the smallest advantage over Hamilton, although he did admit afterwards that he can look at the matter with his “glass half full” and take heart that he still leads the championship battle.
“You have to understand that they’re mad, passionate fans, and they feel like something wasn’t right in the last race”.
A pre-race downpour created some havoc and an immediate call for “full wet” tyres and a plodding safety vehicle start.
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While Rio was disappointed after his auto spun off in 25th lap and was unable to continue the race.
