Race car driver Lewis Hamilton said that he was "very very shocked" after his Mercedes team asked him to move over and let team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg pass him during Sundays Hungarian Grand Prix.
This has been the second time that the Mercedes tem had asked Hamilton to give way to Rosberg and the second time happened after the 47 laps of a 70 lap's race which was won by Australian Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull. Both of them finished third and fourth and had used different strategies during the race.
According to Hamilton "Obviously I am aware that I was in the same race as him, just because he had one more stop than me doesn't mean I am not in same race. If I let him pass, then he could pull away and come back at me later."
He added "I was very, very shocked that the team would ask me to do that. He didn't get close enough to overtake, I was not going to lift off and lose ground to Fernando (Alonso) or Daniel (Ricciardo), so it was a bit strange."
During the race, Hamilton finished third behind two-time champion Spaniard Alonso of Ferrari while Rosberg finished fourth.
Hamilton was asked "not to hold up" Rosberg during the 47th lap and was reminded once more during the 52nd lap. Hamilton answered them with "I'll let him through if he gets closer.... I'm not slowing down for Nico."
Because of his 3rd place, Hamilton was able to trim down Rosberg's lead from 14 down to 11. According to him "This is damage limitation. I was just pushing as hard as I could to get as high as I could."
He added "I cannot explain the pain you feel when you have issues such as I have had in last couple of races. It is difficult to swallow, and to come back next day and attack. You are pushing way beyond what you would do if you were on pole position. It feels satisfying coming through (and) to be ahead and still in the fight is still encouraging"
Mercedes will be holding a team inquiry to check the matter.
