Mercedes Formula 1 ꦉboss Toto Wolff says he disagrees with the “𓄧far-fetched” penalties dished out to Lewis Hamilton at the Russian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was hit withဣ two five-second time penalties after he was judged to have breached the FIA’s practice st𒊎art rules before the race got underway at Sochi.

The total 10-💟second time penalty meant Hamilton missed the opportunity to equal Michael Schumacher’s all-time wౠins record of 91 F1 victories and instead was forced into a recovery drive to take third behind Max Verstappen and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton took aim at the Russian GP stewards for what he described as a “ridiculous” penalty, adding he felt they were 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:“trying to stop me” from winning the race.

Wolff went to see the stewards before the race got underway with Mercedes sporting director Ron Meadows and was le🌠ft unhappy with the decision, though he refused to put th🌊e blame on either driver nor the team.

"The errཧors always happen together,"ꩵ Wolff explained. "It's not a team error, it's not a Lewis error. And I wouldn't want to point at anybody, and I've never done that.

"Ron and I were the stewards, the verdict was he wasn't in the rig🐓ht place. There is no mention what the right place is in the director's note, nor is it in t♊he regulations. So we disagree on that one – we agree to disagree on that one.

"The other one was not driving at constant speed in the reconnaissance la🃏ps, and there again, it's debatable. But the race has happened.

"He received the 10 sec🔯onds penalty. For a reconnaissance lap infringement an in-race penalty can be debated also. But you have to take it on the chin and move on.

"I'm not happy with the penalty, because it's 𒉰fa💯r-fetched, but we agree to disagree. I will always respect the stewards in their job, but on that one, we just agree to disagree."

Wolff believes a “common-sense” approach should have been taken as Hamilton did not gain any advantage from the incideဣnts which occurred prior to ꦚthe race.

"You know, things are not always bl❀ack and white, and there's room for interpretation,” he said. “There are rules that can be interpreted in two ways. There is common sense.

"There is the fact that then that an in-race penalty was⛎ given, actually two in-race penalties were given, for an infringement that happened before the ra🦩ce.

"And there was an argument that he gained an advantage by making the [🍒practice starts] there, I think it was not an advantage because there was no grip, so much less grip than you would have on your starting positions. It is what it is at the en๊d of the day, obviously, we're all emotional about that.

"But the emotion should be geared towards Valtteri who deservꩲed a race win since a long time, and that is fund🉐amentally what makes me happy. And finishing once and three should give us all reason to make us cheer and fly home and say, we can be satisfied with how it went, and now we need to learn from the incident.

"We need to look at the procedures and our communications. And as every time we wil🎐l not blame the person, we will target the problem."