Autosportfoto

Mercedes won’t rush over Hamilton position

Mercedes says it will take time to savour its 2016 Formula 1 World Championship wins before turning attention to next season and possible action against Lewis Hamilton following a contentious Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton disobeyed several team orders during a tense finale around the Yas Marina Circuit as he attempted to back Nico Rosberg into the following pack as part of an effort to spur his own dwindling title hopes, raising speculation he could be in line for sanctions.

For the time being though, Mercedes is focusing on celebrating Rosberg's drivers' title and its own third consecutive constructors' win.

"There's no time pressure," a spokesman told the BBC. "We'll let the whole thing settle and then figure out the way forward. For now, the focus is on savouring and celebrating the world championships."

Though Mercedes has denied its radio messages - which included an order from Paddy Lowe - to Hamilton were not to hamper his title chances but to prevent the fast approaching Sebastian Vettel from getting within range of challenging for the win, the subordination didn't leave team boss Toto Wolff impressed.

With Wolff saying it is his duty to ensure Mercedes protects its values of defeating its rivals, regardless of whether it is the first race or the last race of the season, he admitted the team could rethink tactics over the winter.

"We saw a highly entertaining race with lots of controversy to talk about, lots to write about and isn't that at the end of the day what we want to achieve," he said after the race. "The tricky bit here is what does that mean for the future of the team? And how can we race and not be over corporate and boring and allow them to race?"

With Rosberg heading to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate his title win with Mercedes' title sponsor Petronas, Hamilton has remained in Abu Dhabi to conduct Pirelli tyre testing ahead of 2017's change of regulations. 

Zdroj: crash.net