Hamilton deliberately hindered by the Toro Rossos?

Lewis Hamilton, never one to hold back from making stirring statements, once again stirred the paddock by suggesting, during Thursday’s press conference, that the Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers might have obstructed him to benefit Sebastian Vettel during the Spanish Grand Prix.

« They suddenly cut in on me and I lost time. This kind of thing shouldn’t happen because they aren’t supposed to be sisters, right? » said the 2008 world champion.

The Italian team Toro Rosso was created when Minardi was acquired at the end of 2005 by Dieter Mateschitz, who was already the owner of the young Red Bull team. He thus became the first person to simultaneously own two teams in the history of Formula 1. However, he did not retain full control of this entity for long as half of the group’s shares were sold to Gerhard Berger at the beginning of 2006. Franz Tost was then appointed director.

The technical and organic relationship with Red Bull Racing has never ceased since then, as evidenced by the resemblance between the different cars of the two teams but also by the fact that Toro Rosso is considered a junior team (a kind of hopeful team) where pure Red Bull products are trained: Buemi, Alguersuari, Vettel before them, Ricciardo or Vergne in the future. At the beginning of 2010, the technical partnership will be put on hold due to the introduction of regulations prohibiting teams from supplying chassis to other teams.

Are the ties still strong enough to make Toro Rosso a buffer team for the benefit of Red Bull? Lewis Hamilton seems to hint at it, indirectly calling out the authorities: They let Vettel pass right away and slowed me down in the next two corners. If this continues, penalties are surely going to come. I don’t want to complain, but I reported it to my team. It’s up to them to refer it to the FIA to ensure the stewards are aware of these kinds of practices.

On the opposing side, Christian Horner, director of Red Bull, considers Hamilton’s statements absurd, arguing that the two teams operate independently of each other. A similar response comes from Toro Rosso, where it is reminded that the ban on sharing technical knowledge in early 2010 ended all forms of collaboration between the Italian team and its Austrian sister. As for Sebastian Vettel, he prefers not to dwell on the statements of his McLaren counterpart: “I suppose Lewis has said all that, and if that’s what he thinks, that’s just fine with me.”

As a reminder, Vettel won the Spanish race with a six-tenths lead over Hamilton, the latter having closely followed him throughout the race without having any real opportunities to overtake the German driver.