Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in tense F1 dispute

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were involved in a tense exchange after the Hungarian GP, disagreeing over F1 rules.

The pair were seated next to each other in a post-race press conference following Hamilton’s victory in Budapest when they were asked about Rosberg’s pole lap the previous day, when the German survived a stewards’ investigation for failing to slow through double-waved yellow flags.

While Hamilton aborted his final flier in qualifying due after Fernando Alonso’s spin, Rosberg set the fastest middle sector, only losing 0.1s, and went on to snatch top spot off the Brit.

Hamilton was the first to make his point, stating: “The whole 23 years of racing, if it’s a double-yellow flag, you be prepared to stop and Nico was doing the same speed at the apex as I was doing on the previous timed lap.

“It’s a concern. Going into the next race, we could be going for pole position through double-yellow flags and now we know we only have to do a small lift and lose one tenth of a second, go purple through the sector, and we’ll be fine.”

Rosberg, after losing his title advantage and slipping six points behind his team-mate patted Hamilton on the back, saying “thank you for that statement”, before adding:

“What you have to do under double-yellows is significantly reduce your speed. I went 20 km/h slower, 20km/h is a different world in a Formula 1 car. I lifted off 30 metres before my braking point.

“Definitely I significantly reduced my speed and for the stewards that was completely acceptable, it was very, very clear what I did.”