Hamilton Reveals Problems With Incorrectly Built Car After Race In Baku
F1Monday, 16 September 2024 at 22:00
Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton revealed that his power unit was incorrectly built, which destroyed his whole weekend and led to the "worst balance."
Lewis Hamilton was quite pleased after the two practice sessions on Friday, as he looked quite competitive on the track. However, he didn't know that would be the highest point of his weekend.
From Saturday, everything started going downhill for the seven-time World Champion. First, he qualified only in P7 (lap 0.924 seconds slower than Charles Leclerc on pole position).
Then, his team found out some parts of his car needed to be changed for the Grand Prix. Mercedes swapped the entire power unit inside Hamilton's car, which meant he had to start the race from the pit lane.
From that point on, it was clear it would be tough for the 39-year-old driver to even score points in the streets of Baku, where it's quite challenging to follow and overtake. Hamilton revealed after the race what happened on Saturday. As reported by RacingNews365, he said:
"We had a great car on Friday and made the tiniest of changes into Saturday. One of the [power unit] components wasn't correctly built, and then that led us the wrong way on Saturday. We didn't find out [about the issue] until the end of the day."
"Being this race, was the strongest place, best place, they said at least to make the change for the engine, because we need one as I lost one earlier [in the season]. So we knew it was going to be a tough day."
Hamilton made some progress at the start of the race, overtaking a few cars, but as he got close to the top ten, his tires started overheating, and he couldn't push as much as he would have liked.
"I knew that we wouldn't be able to overtake today. This is not one of those tracks. It's difficult to follow in the middle, at least be close towards the end [of the lap]. And yeah, I don't know why our pace so bad on our side, but it happens."
Hamilton's Angry Radio Message Explained:
At one point, the Mercedes F1 driver could be heard saying on his team radio during the life broadcast: "Are you seeing how I have to drive this thing?" Hamilton explained:
"It was the worst balance I probably ever had, one of the worst balances. Basically I had so much front-end and no rear."
"[To turn] I had to yank the steering to break the traction from the front, slide the front through every corner. It's the weirdest way to drive."
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