Hamilton: "There may be something wrong with the new upgrade"

After the qualifications, Hamilton seemed depressed and had indicated that he wanted to finish this difficult weekend as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this Sunday, he granted his wish earlier than he had imagined with a retirement as early as the third lap. Approaching turn 19, the seven-time world champion, just like his teammate during the qualifications, lost control of his W15, sending it spinning into the gravel trap. An unusual mistake for him which marks the end of a forgettable weekend.

Disappointing qualifications

This season, the British driver has not always excelled in the qualifying session and has regularly been beaten by Russell. However, this weekend, the two Mercedes seemed capable of fighting for pole position. A hope that quickly vanished for the former McLaren driver. During the sprint qualifying on Friday, Hamilton only manages a modest seventh place, hindered by a yellow flag caused by Franco Colapinto's Williams.

As he was relying on Saturday's qualifications to turn things around, the situation only got worse with an early elimination in the first part of the qualifications due to a suspension issue. Eventually eighteenth in the session after having his best time canceled for going beyond the track limits, the British driver was not expecting anything from this race against a difficult car to drive, a trend that continued this Sunday.

Premature abandonment following an unusual error

However, the race seemed to be taking a positive turn for Hamilton after an excellent start. Quickly in twelfth place with hard tires, the points were well within reach for him. But by the third lap, while not even attacking, the Briton lost the rear of his Mercedes in turn 19 and sent it into the gravel trap, from which he could not extract himself. Reflecting on this incident at the end of the Grand Prix, Hamilton explained to the media, including Autosport: « I had a great start, I felt good and I had climbed to 12th place. It was the best start I've had in a long time at turn 1. I wasn't even pushing at that moment, I was just trying to start the race and warm up the tires. The car started bouncing, the front left started jumping, and the rear went away. It was the same thing as George yesterday. »

The two Mercedes indeed seemed to struggle with a precarious balance from the first laps of the race. For the native of Stevenage, the new aerodynamic developments brought by the German team this weekend could have impacted the behavior of the car. In P1, I had the same thing. I spun at turn 3, which is so rare. I have never spun at turn 3 in all the years I have been coming here. I was just saying that George obviously had the same problem yesterday, he went back to the old version of the car and seems to be doing well, so there may be something with the new upgrade.

Faced with such a difficult and fluctuating behavior for the drivers, the possibility of reverting to the old specification could be a solution considered by Mercedes to regain performance. "We will investigate as much as possible, and after today, we will look at the data to see if we will stick with the old or the new specification next week," said Lewis Hamilton, frustrated at not being able to deliver all his talent as he starts his last Grand Prix with Mercedes. "If I hadn't had this setback on that lap, I think it would have happened on another lap later, because there was clearly something wrong with the car."

Formula 1 is heading to Mexico this week. A special and unpredictable Grand Prix due to the altitude of the circuit. An unforeseeable round that should allow Toto Wolff's team to reveal itself after a very complicated weekend. Answer this Sunday at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.