Formula 1 Italian GP

Red Bull: Engine derating behind Hamilton struggles in F1 sprint

Red Bull suspects that Lewis Hamilton’s struggle to recover in the Italian Grand Prix sprint race was caused by engine derating.

Jonathan Noble

Edited: Sep 12, 2021, 10:04 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Hamilton made a poor start from the front row of the grid at Monza and dropped down to fifth place after the first lap.

While his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was able to control things at the front and charge on to take a win ahead of Max Verstappen, Hamilton found himself trapped behind the McLarens of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.

Although the world champion was able to get close to Norris ahead of him, he could not get a good enough run down the main straight to find a way past in to the first chicane.

Amid some surprise at Hamilton's failure to overtake the McLaren, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has his suspicions about a key Mercedes weakness that has been exposed.

Horner thinks that Hamilton was suffering from his engine derating at the end of straights – which is when it runs out of the extra 160hp boost that is delivered by battery power.

"When they're running sustainably, they're harvesting [regaining energy in to the battery rather than using it] a lot," Horner told Sky Sports F1.

"It's what we call clipping, so the end of the straights you see the rear light flashing, and that just kills your straightline speed.

"So you can see Lewis getting within half a second [of Norris], which is usually an overtake, but just running out of momentum at the end of the straight."

Horner said that if the team's suspicions are correct, that will be a boost for Red Bull in the race tomorrow, as it means Hamilton will be unable to challenge Verstappen if he needs to.

"It's good news if we can stay ahead tomorrow," added Horner. "It means that they won't be able to attack too hard at the end of the straights, because they've got this harvesting going on."

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Horner was clear that the sprint race was pretty much settled by the second chicane, with Hamilton having lost all his positions at the start.

But he says the sprint showed that Red Bull's race pace was competitive compared to Mercedes.

"I think one lap definitely they are quicker than us," he said. "I think, actually, there's a couple of corners where we're struggling here, but over a lap we're putting a decent lap together.

"Max in the dirty air was able to run at the same pace as Valtteri, as they moved away from the rest of the field.

"And of course, you don't want to take too much risk in a race like that. So we're just grateful to see the points and start from the front tomorrow."

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Hamilton expecting "easy win" for Verstappen in Italian GP

Next article Perez: "Very boring" F1 sprint races "don't bring anything"

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Did Haas make the correct decision in signing Rafael Camara for F1 2027?

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

22 min

Did Haas make the correct decision in signing Rafael Camara for F1 2027?

Vesti steps up to full-time role as Cadillac Racing details 2027 IMSA lineup

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 28 min

Vesti steps up to full-time role as Cadillac Racing details 2027 IMSA lineup

Rafael Camara to replace Esteban Ocon at Haas for F1 2027

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

36 min

Rafael Camara to replace Esteban Ocon at Haas for F1 2027

Cadillac signs Ricky Taylor, Antonio Felix da Costa in refreshed 2027 WEC line-up

WEC

WEC WEC

Barcelona

1 h

Cadillac signs Ricky Taylor, Antonio Felix da Costa in refreshed 2027 WEC line-up

Feature

Discover prime content

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Rwanda turns to F1 as it moves forward from a chequered past

Formula 1

By Filip Cleeren

Rwanda turns to F1 as it moves forward from a chequered past

Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine

Exclusive video: Christian Horner interview on his Red Bull exit, Mercedes rivalry and more

Formula 1

By Autosport

Exclusive video: Christian Horner interview on his Red Bull exit, Mercedes rivalry and more

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