Hamilton: team orders to allow Rosberg 'strange'

Lewis Hamilton says he found it strange that his team asked him to let Nico Rosberg through, considering how far he was down the road.

Nico Rosberg was on a completely different strategy to Hamilton and needed to close the gap to the leaders as much as he can before making his final stop. For this, he wanted Hamilton to let him through - something that never happened with the Briton arguing on the team radio that "I'm not letting him past me, if he gets close enough to overtake he can overtake."

After the race, Hamilton reiterated those comments and added that: “If I let him past then he could pull away and come back at me later.”

“I was very, very shocked that the team would ask me to do that (move aside). He didn't get close enough to overtake, I was not going to lift off and lose ground to Fernando(Alonso) or Daniel (Ricciardo), so it was a bit strange.”

Lewis Hamilton’s poor run of luck continued this weekend when his car caught fire in qualifying, forcing him to start the race from pit lane in a brand new chassis. But the 2008 world champion made some good moves and used the two safety car periods to the fullest to take the final spot on the podium.

“This is damage limitation,I was just pushing as hard as I could to get as high as I could. I cannot explain the pain you feel when you have issues such as issues I have had in last couple of races. It is difficult to swallow, and to come back next day and attack. You are pushing way beyond what you would do if you were on pole position. It feels satisfying coming through [and] to be ahead and still in the fight is still encouraging,” he concluded.

After the race, Nico Rosberg stays on top in the drivers standings, albeit with a reduced lead of 11 points.

by Rachit Thukral