Hamilton frustrated with pit call

Whilst the controversy for Nico Rosberg came and went on Saturday, more followed for team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton was understandably feeling like he had been wronged on Saturday, when Rosberg’s incident during qualifying cost Hamilton a run at pole position.

Whether or not the lock up was deliberate or driver error on Rosberg’s part we will never know. Whether or not Rosberg deliberately extended the yellow flag period whilst recovering his Mercedes in the slip-road again we will never know.

Hamilton may not have pointed the finger directly at Rosberg, instead showing the more mature side of his character, body language spoke volumes.

With Mercedes unable to take one side or the other in the argument, Hamilton may well have felt isolated in his own team.

That frustration boiled over into Sunday, when Hamilton’s one and only chance of leapfrogging Rosberg came and went when Sauber’s Adrian Sutil crashed.

With Hamilton tucked up behind Rosberg, the 2008 F1 World Champions best chance of taking the win was under the pit-stops. But once that chance was gone with safety car tyre-stops, Hamilton’s frustration was clear over the team radio.

‘What was the reason you didn’t box me? I should have pitted, but I knew you wouldn’t guys.’

Hamilton wanted to come in before the safety car was deployed, this would have given Hamilton a small chance of making a move for the race win.

But instead Mercedes played it safe and pitted both cars under safety car conditions. The right choice for a team defending a one-two finish and maximum points for the constructors championship, but the wrong one for a driver chasing a drivers title.

‘When I was at McLaren we had two strategists and the strategy from my strategist was to get the best overall result for me,’

Unfortunately [at Mercedes] we have one overall strategist, and he’s amazing, but unfortunately the role in the team is that he has to look out for the number one [driver in the race] and the guy in second has to come second. I knew from the get-go that I had a lesser opportunity to win the race and I needed a miracle to win at a track like this. Hamilton told Sky Sports.

‘An opportunity occurred where I could have come in. When I was at McLaren, l would have been pulled in on that lap and that may have given me the smallest advantage to get the jump over the Safety Car.

‘But I’ll work it out with the team. In these races, you need to grab every opportunity you can. The start was gone, I was closing up and then the [first] Safety Car came out and really after that there was no opportunity.’

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed that as race leader, the decision was to protect Rosberg: ‘The call is made by the car in front, that is the rule we have. A driver doesn’t make the call himself,’