If 2 years ago, Mercedes had a bad race, it would be termed an unlucky and rare event. But now if they have a good race, it is considered a rare occurrence. If Steve Carell’s character from ‘The Office’, Michael Scott followed F1, he would have said “How the turntables”. Max Verstappen is the only name that has been on the top of the time charts since Azerbaijan. Nonetheless, all Lewis Hamilton can do is go with the flow and find a solution to the problems. However, his uniquely “stupid” suggestion of asking the FIA to stop Red Bull from working on next year’s car has met with disbelief from all around.
So, here’s some context for the unversed. Before the Austrian GP, Hamilton suggested the FIA put a new rule in place. A rule which would prevent teams from working on the next year’s car before a certain date. Now, different stakeholders found this absurd, to say the least. Max Verstappen and Christian Horner rubbished the statement, calling it ironic. Even Toto Wolff sided with Red Bull and spoke against Hamilton’s suggestion. And the latest to join this list is Peter Windsor.
On his YouTube live, Windsor said, “I think he’s got to be joking. It’s got to be Lewis winding up Red Bull. If he’s serious, that has to be the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I mean just because one team has got it together to the point where they can win a championship by halfway through the season and focus on next year’s car in this era of the budget cap, which everybody seemed to want; I mean if the budget cap wasn’t such an issue, Red Bull may not want to start work on next year’s car so quickly.”
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Windsor clearly highlighted the budget cap of $135 Million and said that Red Bull has no choice but to obey it. He further added, saying, “If he’s (Lewis) not joking, it is an unbelievably ridiculous suggestion. I’ve never heard of anything so stupid in my life.”
Windsor concluded by saying that Hamilton might have lost his mind if the suggestion he gave was a serious one. Well, looking at how his season is progressing, he might be losing his mind. On Thursday, Mercedes even got a reprimand from the FIA because of his actions.
Lewis Hamilton Receives Penalty Even Before FP1 Begins In Silverstone
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Based on how frustrating the Austrian GP was, Hamilton might just voluntarily sit out the British GP. Well not exactly, but even before the race weekend begins, he has already received a penalty. But, this time it’s not the track limits that he has exceeded. It is a time limit that he has crossed.
Reportedly, the Briton was scheduled to arrive at a pre-race press conference on Thursday at 1:30 pm. But he showed up a few minutes late. And as a result, Hamilton was set to receive a fine. But after careful consideration, the FIA only gave Mercedes a reprimand. And they asked the team representative to meet the Stewards at 11:15 on Friday. So, Hamilton escaped the fine.
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The 7-time champion might have avoided this problem but is having trouble facing many others. Even in FP1 in Silverstone, he could only manage a P12 finish. If this happened 2 years ago, it would have been Mercedes sandbagging. But, now it looks as if the W14 is actually equipped with huge sandbags that need to be dragged.
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