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Formula 1 Hungarian GP
Yellow flags debate rages on as Hamilton/Rosberg clash
The debate over yellow flags in Formula 1 raged on on Sunday after Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg clashed with their views on the Hungarian Grand Prix's qualifying incident.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Jul 24, 2016, 5:09 PM
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Rosberg escaped a penalty on Saturday after managing to secure pole position despite double yellow flags being waved on his flying lap after Fernando Alonso had spun on track.
Hamilton, on provisional pole until that point, has his lap ruined by the incident and had to settle for second place.
Although Rosberg was summoned to the stewards, it was deemed he had slowed down enough and was therefore not penalised.
Hamilton, who on Saturday had already called on the FIA to clarify the yellow flag rules, insisted after winning today's race that the FIA needed to find a solution, as he thinks Rosberg did not slow that enough on his lap.
"In the whole 23 years of racing it has been, if it's yellow flag, you slow down, and if it is double yellow, be prepared to stop," said Hamilton in the post-race press conference.
"Now Nico was doing the same speed at the apex as he was doing on the previous timed lap, so if it happened to be a car spun or a marshal on the track, it would have been pretty hard for him to stop.
"And the fact he didn't get penalised means we have to be careful because we are sending a message not only to the drivers here but also to the drivers in the lower categories is that it's now possible to only lose one tenth of a second in a double-waved yellow flag, which is one of the most dangerous scenarios.
"We need to clear that up, because before it was two tenths, you had to lose with one yellow flag and half a second with two yellow flags.
"Going into the next race we could be battling for pole position and we see double yellow flags and all we have to do is lift a bit and lose one tenth of a second and we'll be fine, and go purple in that sector.
"That's why we need to clarify it."
Rosberg responds
Teammate Rosberg, sitting beside Hamilton after finishing second, did not look impressed by the Briton's comments, patting him in the back before responding: "Thank you for making that statement."
"What you have to do with double yellow is significantly reduce your speed," said Rosberg. "I went 20km/h slower into that corner. That is a different world in an F1 car.
"With 20km/h you are going proper slow and everything is safe. I lifted off 30 meters before my braking point. I was just rolling there, 20km/h slower until I got to the apex.
"So definitely I significantly reduced my speed and that's why for the stewards it was completely acceptable. On a drying track you are going to get so much quicker every time you go out there.
"So in that segment I was slower with the yellow flags, but in the big sector I'm quicker because the track is getting quicker. So it was pretty clear to the stewards and that's why I didn't get a penalty."
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