Le Castellet, France—Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a chance to poke fun at rivals Ferrari on Saturday (Sunday Manila time), suggesting they need to concentrate more on their racing than the complex appeals system of Formula One.
After searing to his record 86th pole position on an afternoon of sizzling heat at the Le Castellet circuit, in the process helping secure a 63rd front row lockout for Mercedes at this weekend’s French Grand Prix, the defending five-time world champion was in a playful mood.
He said he had arrived late on Thursday evening, after attending a memorial event for fashion designer Karl Lagerfield in Paris, and was concerned that he was out of kilter with his normal weekend routine.
But that worry, he said, was wiped away on Friday once he had learned that Ferrari’s new evidence in their bid to overturn the result of the Canadian Grand Prix depended mainly on an analysis video made for Sky Sports.
“When I arrived in the morning, I heard it was Karun Chandhok’s video that was the new evidence and I was pretty relaxed after that,” he explained with a broad smile.
Earlier on Friday morning, he had used social media to express his worries about what lay ahead of him as he lay wide awake and sleepless in the small hours.
Ahead of their hearing with the Canada race stewards, Ferrari had said that their new evidence was “overwhelming” proof that Sebastian Vettel had not broken any rules when he rejoined after running off-circuit and across a strip of grass.
But the stewards rejected the evidence and thus confirmed that Hamilton was the victor in Montreal. Ferrari said the outcome was a dark day for the sport.
Hamilton said: “If it was me, I would want my team concentrating on the race. Ferrari were spending a lot of time focusing on something else. Me, and my team, were focused on trying to improve the car.”
