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Brazilian Grand Prix:‘Boring’ race ruffles Hamilton’s feathers

World champion finishes second behind Mercedes teammate Rosberg

Afp November 16, 2015

Rosberg’s second successive win and fifth of the season allowed him to seal the runner-up spot in the championship. PHOTO: AFP

SAO PAULO: Not satisfied with winning his third world title and a trophy for securing most pole positions this year, Lewis Hamilton was unhappy after finishing second behind his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old Briton, who clinched his third championship at last month’s United States Grand Prix, moaned that Mercedes deprived Formula One fans of a real race at Interlagos by refusing to relent on their strict policy for matching race strategies.

Hamilton, who believed he was faster on the track than Rosberg, but unable to pass, asked the team to give him a chance to change strategy and try to beat his teammate.

Emulating Senna: Hamilton chasing first victory at Brazilian Grand Prix

“I am here to race,” said a frustrated Hamilton. “And when you have the same strategy, it’s set from the beginning. It would be great sometimes, to be able to do something different rather ‘you’re in on lap 15, and you’re in on lap 16’. For me, I think we have to try to have some options and then see how it plays out.”

Hamilton had been even blunter on the podium when he described the race as “boring”.

Unsurprisingly, Rosberg said it would be unfair if Mercedes allowed the drivers to run with different strategies. “It’s a discussion we’ve had many times and it wouldn’t be fair for the guy running second to go for another strategy and for it to turn out it was massively the better strategy,” said the German.

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Massa excluded from GP for hot tyres

Local hero Felipe Massa was excluded from the result of Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix after the tyres of his Williams car were found to be too hot at the start of the race.

Pre-race checks found the temperature of the tyres on the Sao Paulo-born Massa’s car were 137 degrees Celsius. The limit is 110.

Massa had finished the race in eighth position. His exclusion means Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus moves up to eighth, Dutch teenager Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso to ninth and Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado of Lotus to 10th.

The Brazilian driver’s Williams team confirmed they will appeal against the exclusion.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2015.

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