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Lewis Hamilton has hit back at claims that Mercedes are sandbagging, as the Silver Arrows looked to be massively behind Ferrari after the second practice session yesterday.
Valtteri Bottas set Mercedes' fastest time on the ultra soft tyre, but it was almost seven-tenths of a second slower than pace-setter Sebastian Vettel. Some (including Vettel) believe that Mercedes are holding back pace, however Hamilton denies this.
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"We've never done that intentionally," Mercedes' Hamilton responded. "There's no benefit to doing that. We were just trying to find the right balance in the car, but today it was not easy."
As for why Vettel would accuse him of sandbagging, Hamilton answered: "I don't know. Maybe he's just trying to draw attention to us. But the reality is that Ferrari is just very fast."
While all is seemingly well and good for Ferrari, they have a dark cloud forming over their head as Vettel is already using the third out of a maximum of four turbos for 2017. Once the German moves onto a fifth, penalties will start to be handed out which could heavily affect race outcomes.
"I don't think it's a great concern for us," Vettel insisted. "Of course we didn't plan it, but I think the other two that we have can still be used. Surely we have our reasons, but as I understand it is not a big problem."
Fergal Walsh
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (2)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
All will be revealed soon...
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Ham-Ham dear, you may say whatever you want, but all evidence indicate that you have, in fact, sandbagged on multiple occasions in the past.