HEAT IS ON LEWIS OVER ‘BENDING THE RULES’
FORMULA ONE’S governing body called on Mercedes last night to explain Lewis Hamilton’s ambiguous remarks that suggested the team might have bent the rules. The FIA sought reassurances after the world champion revealed he had ‘dialogue’ with team members during the summer break, despite strict restrictions over what can be discussed. Any flow of information concerning the car — whether over design, development or production — is outlawed during the 14-day shutdown. Hamilton raised alarm bells at a press conference here in Belgium ahead of tomorrow’s first race after the hiatus. He said: ‘We had a bit of dialogue with the team which we generally don’t usually have during the break, just trying to see what else we can do to improve, whether it’s communication, whether that means arriving one minute earlier to a meeting, or whatever it may be. We are just looking at all areas.’ The FIA asked for clarification, with race director Michael Masi informed of the situation. Mercedes offered the following explanation, which was accepted by officials: ‘Lewis was referring to contact with the team during the week after Hungary, when he had begun his summer break but the team was still working until the following Friday, when our shutdown period began for the mandatory two weeks.’ On the track, Hamilton lost power through a throttlepedal failure in first practice and finished nine-tenths of a second off the pace. ‘That sounds awful,’ he said of the gulf to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the pacesetter.