Red Bull team principal Christian Horner Bull said after the race that he was
sure that “every engineer in the pit-lane would be having a close look at
[the picture]” although McLaren insisted on Monday that they would not learn
much if they did.
“The actual data in there isn’t going to be any great use to anyone,” said
Paddy Lowe, McLaren’s technical director. “I don’t think there is much
damage done.
“The actual mistake that Lewis made, which he understands, is that he didn’t
really appreciate the nature of that information. The engineers don’t like
to see that because we spend our lives trying to keep things like that
secret. So it is more what it represents.”
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh confirmed there would be no
disciplinary action while in the same breath suggesting Hamilton
was fortunate to have escaped further punishment.
“It would be interesting to see how other team principals would deal with it,”
Whitmarsh said. “But I think no, it was an error of judgement, it was
corrected fairly quickly and apologised for. We move on.”
Button, too, said he would not be taking the matter any further, although he
questioned how much time Hamilton actually lost to him as a result of using
the older rear wing since the 27 year-old’s higher downforce package also
meant that gained time in Spa’s middle sector.
“I think it’s done now,” Button said. “I don’t think it’s for me to be angry
with Lewis because it’s not a personal thing.
“The bit about him losing six tenths on the straights isn’t the bit that’s
important to me because he should be gaining it back in the corners he’s got
more downforce on. And I was eight tenths quicker in qualifying anyway.
“It’s more the information that we work so hard to keep secret and private,
that was the thing I didn’t want to see on Twitter.”
The incident also adds a little spice to their intra-team battle after Button
faced the indignity of being asked last week, just 11 races into a 20-race
season, whether he would be prepared to sacrifice his own personal ambitions
to help his team mate’s title bid.
Button, who lies sixth in the championship and trails championship leader
Fernando Alonso by 63 points after his victory at the weekend, repeated on
Monday that he believed the title was “a long shot” but clearly has Hamilton
in his sights and said that he expected to be strong again at Monza this
weekend.
“Before I was so out of the picture,” he said. “But one race can really turn
it around. I’m 16 points behind Lewis. But I don’t think ‘right, I’ve got to
try to beat him in the next race.’ If you start picking people you want to
beat it’s more complicated.
“It’s better to get on with it, get your head down and try to win.
“There is no reason why we shouldn’t be confident going to Monza. We don’t
know what other people are going to do. Sebastian [Vettel] was quick [in
Belgium]. But apart from Sebastian there was no-one else on our pace,
really.”