Reuters/Monaco
Lewis Hamilton of Britain smiles at team principal Martin Whitmarsh (right) before driving during the first practice session of the Monaco F1 Grand Prix yesterday
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has urged Monaco Grand Prix stewards to keep a close eye on the Toro Rosso drivers after accusing them of helping title rival Sebastian Vettel at the previous race in Spain.
World champion Vettel’s Red Bull and Italian-based Toro Rosso are sister teams, although independently run, under the ownership of Austrianbnaire Dietrich Mateschitz’s energy drink company.
Hamilton complained after the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend that Switzerland’s Sebastien Buemi and Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari had held him up while he chased eventual race winner Vettel.
The Red Bull and McLaren drivers lapped all the others in that race in Barcelona but they will have a far harder time getting past on the narrow Monaco streets, where overtaking is notoriously difficult, on Sunday.
“Definitely in the last race there was some of that, all of a sudden moving in my way, causing a bigger gap,” Hamilton told Reuters.
“The gap that I closed to him (Vettel) I lost. They let him past and then they held me up for the next couple of corners. That wasn’t cool.
“If that continues to happen then some penalties should
probably be handed out,” added the 2008 world champion, who won
in Monaco that same year
“I just hope that the stewards are wary of it, and I’m sure they’ll do a great job of it.”
Hamilton is the only driver to beat Vettel so far this season, winning in China thanks to clever strategy despite having a slower car. The Briton is 41 points adrift after five races but has high hopes for Monaco, his favourite street circuit.
Vettel has yet to win in Monaco, but set the fastest time in Thursday’s first practice. Hamilton was second fastest in an afternoon session led by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.