Hamilton was afraid of an accident due to dolphin-hunting in Baku
Physically hindered by the bumpiness in Baku, this also made Lewis Hamilton experience the fear of losing control of the car at high speeds multiple times during the race.
The rough translation of the text is:
Dolphin-ing was definitely Lewis Hamilton’s worst nightmare this weekend in Baku. Physically weakened by a backache at the end of the Grand Prix because of the latter, Lewis Hamilton indicated that he had experienced the most physically challenging race of his life this Sunday.
Beyond the discomfort and physical pain caused by the bounces of his W13, dolphin-ing also gave Lewis Hamilton some high-speed scares. « There were many moments where I didn’t know if it would hold,” says the seven-time world champion. « Just if I was going to keep the car on the track, because I don’t know if you saw it, but I almost lost it several times at high speed. »
Hamilton states that he had to release the throttle multiple times in a straight line out of fear of losing control of his W13. « Yes, because it was bouncing so much at times. There were so many instances where I was close to hitting the wall. So, it was a concern, from a safety standpoint, at 180 miles per hour (approximately 290 km/h), almost going into the wall, I don’t think I’ve really had to think about that as a race driver. You never really think about keeping it on the track at that speed. A very, very, very strange experience. »
While the issue had been mentioned during the early images of the testing of the dolphin, nobody had brought up the possibility of losing control due to bouncing on the table. After numerous complaints from the drivers, the FIA is more than ever expected by many to find a solution.
