Mercedes chief technical director James Allison has revealed the team's case to prove that Lewis Hamilton was not at fault for his collision with Max Verstappen. The championship protagonists collided on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix at the high speed Copse corner. Hamilton was awarded a 10-second time penalty which Allison does not agree with due to their being no obligation to hit the apex which the stewards highlighted as a factor in their decision. "I certainly think that whether Copse is a fast corner or a slow corner makes no difference," Allison explained on Mercedes' race debrief video. "This is about what are the rules to do with overtaking and I didn’t see that Lewis did anything wrong with respect to those rules. "Later in the race, Lewis made two further overtakes at Copse using exactly the same guidance and there wasn’t contact in either of those cases. I personally feel it was a harsh decision. "In the end for our outcome it didn’t make any difference but I can understand people who maybe don’t understand there is no obligation on you to hit the apex of the corner, that you don’t have to have your whole car in front of the other car. "I can understand that if you are seeing it from that perspective you might think that the car coming from behind has some sort of obligation to make sure that no crashes take place, but if you look at the stewarding document then I think that Lewis did nothing wrong.” Article continues below image
Hamilton went on to win the race, ending Mercedes' winless streak which dated back to the beginning of May at the Spanish GP. The seven-time world champion is also just eight points behind Verstappen in the Drivers' Standings whilst Mercedes are four points behind Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship. Allison says Mercedes were concerned about whether the stewards were following the FIA's internal guidance to stewards on the rights and wrongs of overtaking. "As far as we are concerned the manoeuvre that Lewis did was absolutely in line with the FIA's overtaking guide. "If you are overtaking on the inside of the corner, then the guidance requires that you are substantially alongside. It is not required that you are ahead, it requires that you are substantially alongside as you arrive at the corner. "Lewis definitely was substantially alongside. He had his front axle well beyond the midpoint of Verstappen's car. It requires you are substantially alongside and it requires that you must be able to make the corner. "By make the corner it means go round the corner and not leave the track or lose control of the car. Those are the things you need to satisfy. "If you can go round the corner, if you are substantially alongside the other car then the corner is yours. What that means is not that you have to emerge in the lead, what it means is that you do not have to cede your position, you do not have to back off and the other car has a duty to avoid hitting you. "So, if you follow the notes that are provided to the FIA stewards and you look frame by frame at what happened with Lewis, he was substantially alongside, he absolutely would have made the corner and indeed did make the corner and therefore there was no need for him to cede any ground."
Most read
