Mercedes refused to let Hamilton retire from race
Briton told to continue as he trailed in 13th Champion hampered by virus at Hockenheim
Lewis Hamilton told Mercedes to retire him from the incident-packed German Grand Prix.
In a radio message that was not aired during Sunday’s broadcast, Hamilton urged his team to pull him out of the race with 11 laps remaining. After running off the road for a second time on a mistakeridden afternoon at Hockenheim, Hamilton was 13th and set to drop to last ahead of a sixth pit-stop when he made the call.
Mercedes, however, instructed Hamilton to continue.
“OK, Lewis box, box for new soft tyres,” said the Briton’s race engineer, Pete Bonnington, on lap 53.
“Retire the car,” the championship leader replied.
“Negative, Lewis, negative,” said Bonnington. “There are always opportunities.”
Hamilton went on to take the chequered flag in 11th position. He was later promoted two places after both Alfa Romeo drivers were handed time penalties for a technical infringement.
That earned Hamilton two points to extend his championship lead over Valtteri Bottas to 41 following the Finn’s late crash on a miserable afternoon for Mercedes at their home event. Hamilton had led for almost half the race before he crashed in the slippery conditions.
The 34-year-old will now spend the next few days at home in Monaco in the hope of recovering from a virus that hindered his preparations in Germany.
“Lewis wasn’t healthy the whole weekend, but I think he did the most he could to get himself in an OK place to race,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. “You can’t be at your best when you’ve been ill for a few days. Having said that, he tried to push through and that needs to be admired.”
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who surged through from 20th to finish second, paid tribute to the organisers of the race even though the German Grand Prix looks likely to drop off the calendar.
“They are putting a lot of effort in, a lot of passion, and they’re very keen on staying, having the grand prix here,” said the Ferrari driver, who grew up down the road in Heppenheim. “I think they lost money last year.”
The race was already out of contract after last season’s event. A lastminute deal kept it on the 2019 calendar after Mercedes-benz, parent company of the dominant Mercedes team, stepped in as title sponsor but there has been no word on a fresh agreement.