Lewis Hamilton critical of new engine regulations, citing them "worse for racing"

Italian Grand Prix

Hamilton critical of new engine regulations, citing them "worse for racing"

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Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Wednesday 9 September 2020 17:05

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has criticised the new engine regulations brought in by the FIA at the Italian Grand Prix, claiming "it is worse for racing".

Hamilton was cruising to yet another victory in Monza, pulling out an 11-second advantage on McLaren's Carlos Sainz, and with championship rivals Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen failing to make any impact on the race.

But his Mercedes team were caught out by the pit lane entry being closed as marshals pushed Kevin Magnussen's retired Haas back to the pits.

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The resulting 10-second stop-and-go penalty meant Hamilton had to fight his way from the back of the pack to collect vital championship points.

The new regulation states engines must be run in the same power mode from the beginning of qualifying until the end of the race, something Hamilton believes detracts from the racing spectacle.

"It is worse for racing," he stated. "It wasn't good. That is why I wasn't overtaking a huge amount even though I had a fast pace.

"When I came out, I saw that I had a massive gap and it wasn't closing anywhere near as fast as I would have liked.

"I was sure I was going to catch them at some stage but then I caught up and I couldn't get by so it didn't feel great, that's for sure.

"I had to use up a lot of my tyres to even catch the back of the train. I did the best I could.

"The only thing is is that it is worse for racing in the sense that in the past, you could move between modes and you had to manage a small amount of strong race engine mode because you only had a certain quota.

"It was more fun to have to manage that, manage the power and utilise it for overtaking. That is probably why you saw less overtaking than perhaps in the past."

With Bottas finishing only two places ahead of Hamilton in fifth, the Briton lost just three points to his team-mate, leaving him "grateful" with his damage limitation.

"I am grateful for the lessons learnt," he added.

"These are the days that you grow the most because none of us loves losing. We sit and do the debrief and nobody is happy.

"But we all have to hold each other accountable and I definitely hold myself accountable for not seeing those signs [that displayed the pit entry was closed] but I think it is a part of a whole sequence of things that we did as a team which weren't perfect.

"But to come away with, still, that many points and the fastest lap, which is helpful. I don't really know what happened with Max [Verstappen] and then I am not really quite sure why Valtteri was fifth but talk about damage limitation. I am definitely grateful for it."

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