Stewards clear Mercedes after tyre pressures on world champion's car found to be too low
Thursday 10 September 2015 10:45, UK
It was touch and go for Lewis Hamilton after Sunday's Italian GP. He'd just won it at a canter, stood on F1's most delirious podium in front of thousands of fans, only to discover that, through no fault of his own, the victory might be taken away.
A left-rear tyre pressure that's 0.3PSI too low – potentially the difference between success and disqualification in F1, although the FIA later cleared the team of any wrongdoing, deciding instead that measurement protocols need to be looked at.
Hamilton, who took the chequered flag 24 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel, insisted that the discrepancy would have made no difference when he spoke to Sky Sports F1's Natalie Pinkham immediately afterwards.
Do you feel concerned that you'll be stripped of the win?
LH: "I don't feel concerned at the moment. There's no need to worry; I had an amazing day, an amazing weekend, and that's really what I'm focused on.
"What will be will be. We did everything we could. Formula 1 is about running to the maximum. Every single driver and every single car here, there are limits on lots of things – weight and all sorts – and they run to the bare minimum.
"All the time it's above, but as low as we can go. So if it's 20, we'll be 20.1…or 20.001.
"That's what Formula 1 is all about. And for whatever reason today – if it's 0.3 [PSI] it's 0.3 – but it had no effect on the car. That small amount on the tyre doesn't do anything.
"It has to be a much bigger amount – 0.5 or 1 PSI – to make a difference."
So if you get disqualified do you think it's unfair?
LH: "I'm sure people can prove it as well. Pirelli will be able to prove that it doesn't make any difference, particularly on one tyre. If it's all the tyres maybe you can argue it.
"It would be very much a shame. But ultimately that's not the reason why we won today. We won because we were the quickest."
