Hamilton added that he had been shocked by the severity of the punishment on
Saturday and denied he had gained any competitive advantage from being
fuelled light.
“I was surprised because the team told me I would have my best lap taken away
from me,” Hamilton said. “So I thought ‘OK I can have a race from seventh.’
I never had it in my mind that I would start from the back.
“I saw people saying that I would have gained time by having less fuel in the
car because 10 kilos is worth three tenths here.
“I only needed a kilo more, maximum, to get back to the pits to provide the
sample. It was not like we tried to go quicker by running less fuel. It was
just a very small mistake that could have happened to anyone and we were
punished.”
Jenson
Button was less happy after finishing one place behind his McLaren
team-mate in ninth.
“I was just slow,” he said. “To work out why I was slow, that’s a bit
trickier. Normally I’m good at looking after tyres. I can’t do that at the
moment. I’m struggling with the car. It’s not an overnight fix, which is
worrying.
“The first two races were good. But Bahrain was tricky and here was also
tricky. I just can’t find grip and I can’t use it. I don’t think I could
have done a two-stop.”