Lewis Hamilton embarrassed in China: Mercedes is involved / Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton’s fans could not believe their eyes: the most successful Formula 1 driver was eliminated in the first qualifying session at the Shanghai International Circuit, finishing in 18th place. And this is after Hamilton finished the best second behind Max Verstappen in the Sprint from China.

Such an obstacle occurred only in very rare cases for the Brit in the final training, and then usually because of the penalty transfer. But there were no engine problems here. So how can this happen?

Mercedes technical director James Allison said in his reflection on the Chinese GP weekend: “Of course, Lewis had a mistake at the hairpin which cost him a good tenth of a second. But for at least two reasons we have to take this defeat on our shoulders ours.”

Allison continued: “For one thing, we developed a car that only works well within a narrow operating window, but is difficult to drive outside of this operating range. This encourages mistakes. On the other hand, we should have followed the same operating plan with Hamilton as George Russell.

The 56-year-old Englishman explains: “The rules regarding parc fermé on race weekends have been changed. We had a free practice session, then it was time for qualifying and nothing was allowed to be fixed on the car for the rest of the weekend.”

“It’s different today. The 2024 regulations allow the set-up to be changed after the sprint part of the weekend, i.e. after qualifying and sprints. This can prove to be a double-edged sword, as we’ve seen. Because if you go in the wrong direction when it comes to set-up after GP qualifying sprint, then you will be in big trouble. And that’s what happened to us with Lewis in China.

“We went into Q1 with changes that weren’t right, the car was slower instead of faster, and Hamilton was the one who suffered.”

“As the process continues, Lewis later insisted that he would prefer to start like George. That means – with enough fuel on the board to be able to do two flying laps; One can feel the car so that after a calm walk it goes for another fast lap.”

“For Lewis, on the other hand, the schedule was originally designed for only one fast lap, he found the car to be too low, and the tendency of the wheels to lock at the entrance of the curve. In his second lap the mistake came when closing the hairpin, and those seven tenths were missing at the end.

“Lewis was honest enough to admit this mistake. But the truth is – we made life unnecessarily difficult. We would have done the same with him as we did with George.

China-GP, Shanghai International Circuit

01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:40:52,554 h
02. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +13.773
03. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +19,160
04. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +23,623
05. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, +33,983
06. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +38,724
07. Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, +43,414
08. Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, +56.198
09. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +57,986
10. Nico Hülkenberg (D), Haas, +1:00,476 min
11. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +1:02,812
12. Alex Albon (T), Williams, +1:05,506
13. Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, +1:09,223
14. Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Sauber, +1:11,689
15. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +1:22,768
16. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +1:27.553
17. Logan Sargeant (USA), Williams, +1:35,110
outside
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), Racing Bull, collision
Yuki Tsunoda (J), Bulls Racing, Collision
Valtteri Bottas (FIN), clean, engine

World Championship Position (after 5 out of 24 Grands Prix and 1 out of 6 Sprints)

the driver
01. Verstappen 110 points
02. Perez 85
03. Leclerc 76
04. Sainz 69
05. Norris 58
06. Plate 38
07. Russell 33
08. Alonso 31
09. Hamilton 19
10. Walk 9
11. Tsunoda 7
12. Oliver Bearman (GB) 6
13. Hulkenberg 4
14. Magnussen 1
15. Alboni 0
16. Okon 0
17. Zhou 0
18. Ricciardo 0
19. 0 gas
20. Bota 0
21. Sergeant 0

Builders Cup
01. Racing Red Bull 195 Punkte
02. Ferrari 151
03. McLaren 96
04. Mercedes 52
05. Aston Martin 40
06. Running Bull 7
07. Exactly 5
08. Williams 0
09. Alpine 0
10. Sauber 0