Hamilton was worried about engine; Mercedes was not allowed to say anything

Lewis Hamilton was quite worried just before the start in Hungary. During the warm-up lap Hamilton indicated by radio that the engine made the sound as if it would go into a stall. Concerns that the team could not answer because it is not allowed by law to communicate with the driver during that period, trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin explains.

Regulatory not permitted

In the last Mercedes Debrief Shovlin talks about Hamilton's message coming in loud and clear. But responding by radio until the start of the race is not allowed. Something Haas did and therefore she got a penalty. Mercedes stuck to the rules, where Hamilton was worried.

"Lewis reported a problem on the formation lap where he said he thought the engine was going to stall. What it actually was was a sensor issue that was only affecting the engine around the idle control, so when he was sat there, waiting to go off on the formation lap.

"Now It wasn't a problem, it wasn't going to stall and there is a protection that will actually stop the engine from stalling anyway, if you were in that situation, but we couldn't tell him it was okay," says Shovlin.

"And that's because of the rules that prevent you talking to the driver during that entire formation lap. So we knew it was fine, but he had to sort of worry a bit until he got off the line."