Lewis Hamilton departed Budapest yesterday as the beaming new leader of this year’s world championship and at the centre of a trio of controversies in the wake of his record fifth victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The defending world champion was involved in a a row over yellow flags with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, accused of ‘backing him up’ in the race and also of showing a lack of respect to a back-marker who had blocked him.
But he showed no signs of serious concern other than a worry that the race stewards’ inconsistent interpretation of the flag rules was dangerous and required clarification.
Hamilton was accused of ‘backing up’ second-placed Rosberg during Sunday’s race - driving slower than he could to push his rival back within reach of third-placed Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo - but this was dismissed by Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff.
“I don’t think he was backing him up at all,” said Wolff. “I’m sure he didn’t want to back him up.
“The whole weekend we discussed with them the need to be very cautious on the tyres. When you hear constant messaging that ‘the tyres might not last’, you want to manage them.
“He (Hamilton) over-managed it probably. He had everything under control. He knew Nico was behind and didn’t realise the train was approaching fast.”
Hamilton said: “I was turning my engine up and down, managing it as much as I needed to...
I wasn’t backing Nico up.
“He was quick enough to close the gap, if he really wanted to, and challenge. After the radio message, I was able to pick pace and really go for it.”
Hamilton was widely praised for his stand on the meaning of yellow flags, after Rosberg had set his fastest lap to claim pole while driving through waved double yellows, for which he escaped a penalty.
“The stewards need to come up with some kind of solution because the whole 23 years of my racing, it has been ‘if it’s yellow flag, you slow down’ and if it’s double yellow flag, be prepared to stop.
“And Nico was doing the same speed at the apex as I was doing on the previous timed lap...
If there happened to be a car that had spun, or a marshal on the track, it would have been pretty hard for him to slow down.”

‘Lack of respect’
As that argument raged in the post-race news conference where a visibly angry Rosberg responded by claiming he had lifted and slowed substantially, Esteban Gutierrez accused Hamilton of lacking respect with a single-finger gesture aimed at him as he passed his Haas car.
“Not a very respectful move from him,” said the Mexican, when told about it. “He’s the world champion, but he shouldn’t do these kinds of things - he should respect all of the competitors.”
Hamilton responded: “He just didn’t abide by the flags that I could see were being waved at him.
I lost so much time behind him and at the same time Nico was catching me.”
Having completed a mid-season hat-trick, Hamilton has now turned a 43-point deficit in May into a six-point lead ahead of this week’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
On current form, he looks unstoppable, but Rosberg, who won the first four races of the year, believes he can bounce back again. “I’ve always said I’m not counting points,” he said.
“I fully expected him to come back and I didn’t expect to be 43 points in front all the time.
“It ebbs and flows and it’s always going to be a tough battle because he’s the world champion. It’s still close and it only takes a small thing to switch it the other way - and I want to do that at Hockenheim.”

Hamilton still feels more hunter than hunted
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton still sees himself as hunter rather than hunted in the Formula One title race despite victory in Hungary putting him in the overall lead for the first time this season.
The Briton seized the lead from Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg after an unprecedented fifth victory at the Hungaroring on Sunday that opened up a six-point lead over the German.
With half the 21-race season now completed and Germany’s Hockenheim circuit next up on Sunday, Hamilton, who has often spoken of how he thrives in adversity, still sees himself in hot pursuit.
“I’m just still in the same mentality of chasing, I’m still chasing,” he told reporters.
“(It’s) been great to be able to come back with fewer engines, with the struggle that we had at the beginning of the year, so I’m very, very proud of that but conscious that there’s still a long way to go.”
Hamilton trailed Rosberg by a massive 43 points after May’s Spanish Grand Prix following a spate of reliability problems in the early part of the season.
The 31-year-old, who singled out that Barcelona race and the collision between the Mercedes pair as the low point of his season, has hit back with a run of five wins from the last six races including victory in the last three.
His early season troubles have left him short of power unit components, however, and Hamilton knows he may have to take a grid penalty or start from the back of the grid at some point later in the year.
In order to limit the damage to his title hopes, Hamilton is aiming for maximum points with races like Silverstone two weeks ago, where he claimed a sensational win on home soil after dominating all weekend.
“I really would love to come out of the next race with another result like this so that when I do go to Spa or Monza, whichever one it is that I have to take my penalty...that it’s minimum damage,” he said.
“So I need to make sure I stay on it, like Silverstone weekends, from now on.”
Hockenheim is the last race before the August break, with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa and then Italy’s Monza following on after that.

Vettel supports Hamilton in flag row
Sebastian Vettel backed world champion Lewis Hamilton’s opinion that Nico Rosberg should have been penalised for driving through yellow flags in qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion yesterday repeated the view of race winner Hamilton by saying that it was a bad example to other drivers.
“The worst thing about this is that we are an example,” said the Ferrari driver.
“And next week, there’ll be a go-kart race somewhere and there will be a double yellow flag - because somebody went off - and the marshals probably go out to help him.
“And then, the way the kids think, is ‘I don’t need to lift off much because in Formula One it’s OK’. And that’s us, the pinnacle, and that’s how we have to behave,” he said.