Lewis Hamilton says he had no knowledge of the tyre pressure investigation which could put his victory in jeopardy when being told to push late on in the Italian Grand Prix.
The championship leader had a comfortable advantage with five laps to go after a dominant display, but was then told by Mercedes he needed to build a gap in the closing laps. A technical delegate's report was then released stating both Mercedes cars had tyre pressures under the minimum starting pressure specified by Pirelli on the grid.
When asked after the race if he had any comment on the situation, with Mercedes having been called to the stewards, Hamilton said: "Not really, no ... I wasn't aware of it."
Asked what difference such a discrepancy in tyre pressure would have, Hamilton replied: "0.3 [PSI] lower? Not really a huge amount on one rear tyre."
Sebastian Vettel finished second in the race, a little over 25 seconds behind Hamilton, and defended the double world champion.
"It's difficult to judge now, because I don't know what was going on," Vettel said. "I think it's not fair to hammer questions at Lewis because he doesn't know what's going on. So that's that. In principle the tyres last a bit longer, but it's a lot about respect and fairness. He did a very good job today, we have to respect that."
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