Mercedes cleared – Italian GP result stands

Around two hours after the Grand Prix at Monza ended, we now have a result.

The race itself lasted just one hour and eighteen minutes, but a decision over who won the race took far longer.

Both race winner Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg were under investigation immediately following the end of the Italian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes team were summoned to the race stewards as both cars were found to have their left rear tyre pressures below the minimum pressure guidelines set by Pirelli.

Pirelli stated that teams must start the race with tyre pressures of 19.5psi or above.

Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton was found to be 0.3psi below that threshold, whilst Nico Rosberg was 1.1 psi under.

Tyre pressures had been under the media spotlight following Sebastian Vettel’s dramatic blow-out in the closing stages of the race in Belgium. Due to this Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli increased the minimum tyre pressure that teams were allowed to race under this weekend.

It wasn’t clear what kind of penalty could have been issued to Hamilton if Mercedes were found guilty a post-race time penalty of anything between 5 and 30 seconds was possible or an outright disqualification.

Lewis Hamilton won the race by 25.042 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

Nico Rosberg retired from the race two laps before the chequered flag was dropped.

That had left Hamilton 53 points clear in the 2015 Formula One World Championship ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg, if he was disqualified then that gap would have almost halved to 28 points.

Eventually the stewards announced a decision, clearing Mercedes and Hamilton’s victory and championship lead remained intact.

FIA statement released on formula1.com:

“Having heard from the Technical Delegate, the Team Representatives and the Pirelli 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,”

“In making this determination regarding the pressures, 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 at significantly different temperatures from 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 Manufacturer and the FIA hold further meetings to provide clear guidance to the teams on measurement protocols.”