Mercedes slams Red Bull’s attempt to ‘tarnish’ Hamilton’s F1 reputation
Red Bull saw its petition for a review into Hamilton’s 10-second time penalty dismissed by the stewards ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix on the grounds that there was no significant additional evidence to consider.
Part of Red Bull’s new evidence was a reenactment of Hamilton’s line into Copse from a lap driven by Alex Albon during a post-race filming day at Silverstone, as well as GPS data and a comparison with the overtake Hamilton later completed on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The stewards also noted “some concern” at allegations made by Red Bull in a letter that was seen by Mercedes’ sporting director Ron Meadows, director of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin and chief strategist James Vowles, all of whom were in attendance during Thursday’s hearing.
In a statement welcoming the outcome of the hearing, Mercedes said: “The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team welcomes the decision of the Stewards to reject Red Bull Racing’s right of review.
“In addition to bringing this incident to a close, we hope that this decision will mark the end of a concerted attempt by the senior management of Red Bull Racing to tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton, including in the documents submitted for their unsuccessful right of review.
“We now look forward to going racing this weekend and continuing our hard-fought completion for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship."
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