Breaking news
Formula 1 United States GP
Mercedes had multiple problems in Austin - Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton claims he suffered multiple problems in the United States Grand Prix that started when his Mercedes Formula 1 team needed to replace the water pump on Sunday morning.
Scott Mitchell
Published: Oct 22, 2018, 3:47 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Mercedes changed the water pumps on both its cars ahead of the race after identifying problems after qualifying, when the component on Bottas's W09 had a leak and data on Hamilton's car also indicated an issue.
Hamilton started from pole but was beaten by Kimi Raikkonen into Turn 1 and struggled chiefly with tyre management on his way to third in the race.
He said: "You saw the car was in a million pieces [at the start of the day] so it wasn't ideal for the race.
"Probably if we hadn't had to have a morning like that, our race outcome would have been a bit different."
Hamilton opted for a two-stop strategy after pitting during an early virtual safety car period but the Briton, who was seeking to secure his fifth title, said Mercedes was outperformed by Ferrari and not simply outsmarted.
"But there was more on top of that, which we've just been talking about – and to how much of an extent that is," said Hamilton.
"In the race there was some debris, some damage on the floor, all these different things add up.
"A couple of tenths in floor damage, [but you] have to assume everyone else had the same thing.
"We had another problem that we just discovered but we don't know how much time that is."
Hamilton would not elaborate on that problem, but described it as an "outlier" that he struggled for pace and used his tyres aggressively.
"We were forced into a two-stop race for certain things we had that weren't ideal with the car," he said.
"We didn't know that was going to be the case when we got into the race.
"If we hadn't had the problem we've had, tyre usage wouldn't have been anywhere near as big an issue as we had."
Hamilton suffered from blistering on both sets of soft tyres, especially as he lost time at the end of his middle stint.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said that the blistering was "unexpected".
"We knew it could be a problem, but we were going strong on the first stint, on the supersoft behind Kimi it was good," he said.
"Putting the soft on, at that time it was still under control, then Lewis started to push and the tyres started to blister.
"This is the moment we started to realise things were going against us here."
Mercedes technical director James Allison suggested the team had suffered from lacking dry running until Saturday morning.
"We normally get the car in a happier place than this, but with Friday being washed out we were blind to the problems we experienced today," he said.
"They were cruelly exposed today and they led to the disappointing outcome."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Alonso could trial new onboard for F1 farewell
Next article Mercedes modified wheel rims to avoid risk of Ferrari protest
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Lewis Hamilton
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
Formula 1
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Latest news
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 h
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
6 h
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
MotoGP
Qatar GP
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe