F1 News
Hamilton says he doesn't accuse Red Bull and Verstappen of foul play
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton commented in passing on the onboard radio during the second Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit that Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing might have been driving with low tyre pressure and therefore their tyres lasted longer. This was interpreted by several media as an accusation. Hamilton contradicts this at the press conference.
According to the regulations, all teams have to start with at least a certain inflation pressure. This minimum is determined by Pirelli, who have increased this considerably in recent years. Under warm conditions, however, teams are keen to keep these values as low as possible.
"When we go out and we start the race we have minimal pressures and then during the race, they increase. With more laps, they go on a steep rise and I assume that we just went on a much steeper rise and increase in pressures than [them]"
'Red Bull knows how to keep tyre pressure down by regulation'
"In general, to look after your tyres, you need to keep the temperatures down and hence the pressures, so that wasn’t really my thought processes when I was out there. They must be able to keep their pressures lower than ours and that’s why ours were blistering and that was just a theory that I had."
Hamilton, therefore, speculated that Red Bull knows how to keep the pressure low and absolutely does not want to insinuate that the team is starting the race with too low tyre pressure. "I wasn’t saying that they have different settings compared to us because we all have the same minimum."