Mercedes cleared of breaching regulations
Lewis Hamilton retains his Italian Grand Prix victory after stewards have cleared Mercedes from breaching the technical regulations, despite tyre pressure measurements that indicated differently.
Mercedes got informed during the race that tyre pressure measurements by the FIA on the cars just before the start of the race had shown deviating rear tyre pressures, and hence triggered an investigation to decide if Mercedes was in breach of a technical directive which mandates a minimum tyre pressure of 19.5 PSI, as per Pirelli's requests.
"Stewards determine that the pressures were at the minimum start pressure recommended by Pirelli when they were fitted to the car," said the stewards.
"Tyre warming blankets had been disconnected from their power source as is normal procedure and the tyres were significantly below the maximum permitted tyre blanket temperature at the time of the FIA measurement on the grid and significantly different temperatures from other cars measured on the grid.
"The stewards decide to take no further action.
"Neverthess the stewards recommend the tyre manufacturer and the FIA hold further meetings to provide clear guidance to the teams on measurements."
Indeed, the team argued that tyre pressures were set legally, and in presence of a Pirelli technician.
Hamilton on his behalf argued there was no reason for Mercedes to breach the rules anyway, as the 19.2 PSI on Hamilton's left rear tyre was no advantage anyway.
"Formula 1 is about running to the maximum, and there are limits on lots of things," he said. "We run to the bare minimum, all the time it is above but as low as we can go. If it's 20, we'll be 20.1 or 20.001, whatever. It's what F1 is all about.
"At the end of the day that had no effect on the car. That small amount on a tyre doesn't do anything, it has be a much bigger amount, a half or one PSI to make a difference.
"Particularly if it's only on one tyre. If it was all the tyres, maybe you can argue it. Ultimately that's not the reason we won today, we won because we were the quickest."
