Hamilton not anxious by Italian GP tyre pressure probe

Lewis Hamilton sat back and listened to music as his emphatic Italian Grand Prix victory was left in the hands of Formula One’s stewards.

“The stewards are satisfied that the team followed the now specified procedure supervised by the tire manufacturer for the safe operation of the tires”, said a statement. “I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration”.

A team representative was summoned to the stewards, but Mercedes were cleared eventually.

Hamilton won the race, beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with Felipe Massa finishing third for Williams.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who began the Italian Grand Prix in pole position, has kept his victory following a controversy into the tyre pressures on Mercedes’ cars on track.

The day was not as kind to Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, however, as the back of Nico Rosberg’s auto caught fire two laps from the finish as he tried to pass Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

It has left Hamilton with a 53-point advantage with seven rounds of the 19-race championship remaining and well set to retain his title and win a third world crown.

Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe said he and his team did not understand why they were being called to see the stewards.

It was Hamilton’s 40th career victory, one less than his boyhood hero Ayrton Senna, and seventh of the season.

Without specifying a reason, Hamilton was told by his team to drive flat out in the final laps, potentially to negate the repercussions of a penalty in relation to the tyre pressure. But the Finn quickly recovered to finish fifth, while Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg took sixth and seventh, respectively.

“You guys come up with those statistics each year but it is absolutely irrelevant – I have got to win every race from now on”, he is quoted as saying by Press Association.

“You don’t give up and say ‘Oh, he’s better than me.'”.

Vettel added: “I was second on the podium and that’s the emotions I got and I am grateful for them”. A few corners earlier, I felt already that I had lost some power but was still hoping I could make it.

“Just so many repercussions of this engine issue…it wasn’t even an engine issue, it was actually a chassis issue, that meant we had to change the engine, and then it was a hard race as a result”, said Rosberg.

Next up is the Singapore Grand Prix but, despite suffering a massive blow at Monza, Rosberg insists he will fight right until the end for the Drivers’ Championship.