GPI Nico Rosberg 2016 World Champion | Page 196

GAME ON

Nico Rosberg had his Formula 1 world championship lead over Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton cut to one point after the German was demoted from second to third place in the British Grand Prix .

Race stewards imposed a 10-second penalty for receiving help from his team via radio transmissions , in breach of the regulations that state the driver must drive the car alone and unaided .
“ Avoid seventh gear ,” Mercedes told Rosberg . “ You need to shift through it .”
Rosberg had finished the race , won by Hamilton for the third year in a row , 1.3 seconds ahead of Red Bull ’ s Dutch teenager Max Verstappen . He told reporters the gearbox would have failed without the instruction .
There are 11 rounds remaining . Rosberg reeled off four wins in a row at the start of the season while Hamilton has taken four of the last five .
Mercedes told Rosberg to avoid the seventh gear five laps from the end after he suffered problems , arguing after the race that the regulations allowed such advice if a terminal failure was imminent .
Team boss Toto Wolff read out part of the regulation on ‘ driver aids ’, saying the list of permitted messages from pit to driver included “ indication of a critical problem with the car ”.
“ That was the basis of our decision ,” he said , even as rivals questioned his interpretation of the rule .
Stewards said in their ruling that while the team “ gave some instructions to the driver that were specifically permitted … the team then went further and gave instructions to the driver that were not permitted .”
Mercedes said they intended to appeal the ruling , starting a process that could take weeks to resolve with a final decision made by the FIA ’ s court of appeal .