Hamilton apologises for pit-stop error - Fulham Chronicle

Lewis Hamilton was left apologising to Mercedes for a gaffe that left McLaren staff key Martin Whitmarsh with a smile on his face at the end of another difficult day. Making his first stop after six laps, Hamilton headed in to McLaren's gap package, clearly forgetting after 13 years with the Woking-based marque he'd turned to Mercedes early in the day in 2010. The 28-year-old needed to be waved through by the McLaren crew before finally taking on new tyres with his own group. Outlining his actions, Hamilton said: "I am accustomed to stopping at McLaren, it happened. I do not discover how I first got it wrong. I did so a (Button). He did that a year or two before, but large apologies to the team." As he said: "Well at that period of the competition I was laughing at least Whitmarsh could begin to see the funny side. I still employ a good relationship with Lewis and I am sure I will give a little to him of grief about it." Regardless of the error, Hamilton went on in order to complete third behind feuding Red Bull couple Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, though his podium position was not without incident. Duelling with team-mate Nico Rosberg after the final pit stops 14 laps from the conclusion, the German was told by group primary Ross Brawn to put up place despite the fact that he was much faster than Hamilton. The 28-year-old could not then cover his embarrassment on the podium, and again in the post-race press conference, feeling he'd robbed Rosberg of his rightful position. The air was removed in the team meeting that adopted, with Hamilton stating: "We had a big team talk and everyone else was excellent. I said to Ross I would have let him past, but he said 'certainly not. When I tell you this is what I want you to complete, you've to stay because of it .' "So I'm glad I stuck because of it and did not get into trouble because sense, but hats off to Nico - he did an excellent career and was driver of the day for me." Rosberg, but, was still far from happy, reiterating his opinion over the radio when he pulled into parc ferme after the competition for the group not to overlook his generous gesture, as he said: "It was an indication to them to understand that I enjoyed the game."