A combination of poor timing and the words of some seasoned observers were
adding fuel to this notion on Sunday night. First Toto Wolff, the team
executive director, appeared on television to be smiling around the time of
Rosberg’s mistake on lap 29, his second at the Variante del Rettifilo. As
Wolff pointed out, however, the delay in the TV footage inadvertently
stitched him up.
But Sir Jackie Stewart, who was overtaken in the all-time victory list by
Hamilton, who is now seventh, with this win, questioned whether Rosberg had
made a simple driver error. Stewart, a three-time world champion, said on
Sunday night: “It was a part of the track where there was no real penalty
for making that mistake so I am a little confused. I thought it was a bit
too easy. I thought he could have at least made an effort to get round the
corner but he didn’t.
“The first I thought, ‘that’s wise’ because he knew it wasn’t a difficult
thing to believe; the second time I thought, ‘Hello, what’s going on here?’
” Asked if he thought Mercedes might have rigged the race, he replied: “It
has been suggested.”
Wolff, visibly flabbergasted by the argument, contended that “only a paranoid
mind would have dreamed up such an idea”.
Rosberg, booed on the podium for the second race in succession despite
Hamilton confirming the pair were still friends, said that it was a simple
case of pushing too hard with his team-mate gaining fast. He said: “What
would be the reason for me to do something like that deliberately? There is
no possible reason. They might look a bit strange, but I did it in practice.
It’s not like we now start shuffling and things like that, so there is no
reason why I would do something like that on purpose.”
The theorising distracted from a resounding win for Hamilton, one which will
have inflicted a significant blow on his team-mate. After all the tumult of
recent weeks, this was a classic Hamilton drive, always attacking and
harrying Rosberg even when the team recommended a more conservative
approach.
His father Anthony, at a race for the first time since Hamilton’s last victory
this year, in Silverstone, agreed. “It is just head down and drive like he
did in go-karts: to win,” he said.
“Drive to win, no other way. What has happened to Lewis in the past few weeks
has been unreal. It is all character building but it is extraordinary. That
is why I am feeling this extra special something, that this championship is
giving Lewis such a hard time but he comes through. We just have to keep the
faith.”
If Hamilton can keep producing performances of such blistering speed in the
remaining six rounds, faith will not be required, particularly given he
endured such a nightmare start here. First, when sat on the grid, a brake
cooler fell on the front wing. Then, once the five lights went out, the
car’s usual launch system failed and he was swamped by his team-mate, Felipe
Massa and Kevin Magnussen. Hamilton slotted into fourth, while Rosberg had a
clear run at the front.
The McLaren of Magnussen was dispatched on lap five, but Massa, who ended up
third for his first podium of the season, was a more challenging
proposition.
The Williams has been phenomenal in the speed traps all season, and for a few
laps it seemed this would thwart Hamilton’s charge. But on lap 10, just one
after Rosberg’s first error, Hamilton made his move, brilliantly squeezing
through at the first chicane before setting after his team-mate.
After the pit stops, it was suggested he should save his tyres. Hamilton did
not see it that way. He tore into Rosberg’s three-second lead, and the
German buckled.
Within a few short laps Hamilton was gone. He crossed the line with his arm
aloft. He was over the moon, you might say.
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