Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton win stands as stewards clear Mercedes

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Lewis Hamilton's victory in the Italian Grand Prix has been confirmed after stewards decided to take no further action against Mercedes for low tyre pressures.

Mercedes was under investigation after both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were found to have left rear tyre pressures lower than the recommended minimum pressure from Pirelli. The pressures were taken five minutes before the start of the race, but Mercedes successfully argued the pressures were correct when the tyres were fitted to the car and the result stands.

"Having heard from the technical delegate, the team representatives and the team tyre engineer, the stewards have determined that the pressure in the tyres concerned were at the minimum start pressure recommended by Pirelli when they were fitted to the car," the stewards decision read.

"In making this determination regarding the pressure, the stewards noted that the tyre warming blankets had been disconnected from their power source, as is normal procedure, and the tyres were significantly below the maximum permitted tyre blanket temperature at the time of the FIA’s measurement on the grid and a significantly different temperature to other cars measured on the grid.

"Further, the stewards are satisfied that the team followed the currently specified procedure, supervised by the tyre manufacturer for the safe operation of the tyres. Therefore, the stewards decide to take no further action. Nevertheless, the stewards recommend that the tyre manufacture and the FIA hold further meetings to provide clear guidance to the teams on measurements protocols."

Hamilton's left rear tyre was measured at 0.3 PSI below the minimum pressure, while Nico Rosberg's was 1.1 PSI below. Hamilton's victory - now it is confirmed - leaves him with a 53 point lead in the drivers' championship.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.