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Mercedes accuses Red Bull of trying to tarnish Hamilton’s integrity
Mercedes has accused Red Bull Racing’s bosses of trying to tarnish Lewis Hamilton’s name and sporting integrity during RBR's petition to review the penalty from the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton was handed a 10-second time penalty for the collision with Max Verstappen at Silverstone, but Red Bull lodged a petition for the right to review the punishment because it felt it was too lenient. That petition was dismissed on Thursday after the stewards stated the alleged new evidence introduced by Red Bull was simply slides based on existing GPS data that had been available at the time, but there was a telling paragraph in the stewards decision that read:
Mercedes team members present in the hearing were able to see what was in the letter, and while the team has denied requests to reveal its content, it has released a strongly-worded statement after the decision.
“The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team welcomes the decision of the stewards to reject Red Bull Racing’s right of review,” the statement read.
“In addition to bringing this incident to a close, we hope that this decision will mark the end of a concerted attempt by the senior management of Red Bull Racing to tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton, including in the documents submitted for their unsuccessful right of review.
“We now look forward to going racing this weekend and to continuing our hard-fought competition for the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship.”
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Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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