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Lewis Hamilton controversially defied team orders to deny his Mercedes team-mate and world championship rival Nico Rosberg a probable victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix.Hamilton was told three times to give way to Rosberg, who was on a different strategy, but decided to hold his ground. His refusal to follow the instruction from the Mercedes pit wall meant  he finished third and Rosberg fourth, narrowing the German’s lead in the Formula One drivers’ championship to 11 points.

But Hamilton was angry the order was issued, saying: “I was in the same race as him. If I’d let him past he would have had the opportunity to pull away.

“I was very, very shocked the team would ask me  to do that. But I am glad I made the right decision. I was racing for myself not for him.
“I don’t think it changes the situation going forward. I’m sure we’ll go through it and explain and discuss and try to understand it. At the time I was trying to weigh it up because I was in third. Maybe if I’m eighth and he’s fighting for first then maybe, but that wasn’t the case. I’m sure the team did it for the right reasons.

“If I had let him past, he would have caught me with a few laps to go, for sure.”

Rosberg declined to be drawn into the controversy, saying he would speak with the team before commenting.

Asked if Hamilton should have complied, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “That’s a tricky one. We need to analyse that properly and not give a knee-jerk reaction now. They are fighting for the world championship. It’s not an easy call.”

Despite not being allowed through, the German came close to overhauling Hamilton in the final few laps of the race. But Hamilton fought back brilliantly from the back after misfortunes in qualifying for the second successive weekend.

He did it from the pit lane after his car caught fire on Saturday. Last week in the German Grand  Prix he went from 20th to third after a break failure caused him to crash in qualifying.

Hamilton said: “It’s been a very challenging, trying and testing last two weeks. I saw some of the stories that I was cracking under the pressure, and hopefully this has shown I’m not and I’m in the fight.”— Dailymail