Lewis Hamilton’s weird incident with a bollard throughout qualifying value him an opportunity to win his last race for Mercedes, group principal Toto Wolff believes.
Wolff fumed over the group’s technique after Hamilton was eradicated within the first spherical of qualifying, which left him sixteenth on the grid. Mercedes despatched each their drivers out late in Q1, giving them the prospect to profit from bettering observe circumstances, although it left each weak to visitors.
Nonetheless Hamilton was heading in the right direction to enhance his time on his last lap when he encountered Kevin Magnussen at flip 14. The Haas driver dived out of his manner, taking to the run-off space on the within the nook, however despatched a bollard flying into the Mercedes’ path.
Hamilton’s automotive collected the bollard on the entrance of its flooring. This disrupted the automotive’s aerodynamics and precipitated minor harm – Mercedes changed the right-hand aspect entrance wheel deflector on his automotive earlier than the grand prix.
Whereas Hamilton didn’t make the minimize for Q2 by lower than a tenth of a second, group mate George Russell made it by way of and went on to qualify sixth. Regardless of beginning 10 locations aside, Hamilton caught his group mate and handed him on the ultimate lap to complete fourth, 36 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris.
Had Hamilton began additional up the grid, Wolff believes he would have been racing Norris and the Ferrari drivers who occupied the rostrum locations.
“With out the bollard getting in Lewis’s manner yesterday in qualifying, I believe he might have fought for victory,” mentioned Wolff. “He was fast all through at the moment and made the choice technique work nicely.
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“He drove like a world champion. That’s befitting of our time collectively and an actual assertion.”
The group’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin mentioned they might take satisfaction from how they responded to Saturday’s disappointment. “We are able to maintain our heads excessive in how we responded,” he mentioned.
“Lewis accomplished a drive worthy of our unimaginable 12-year journey collectively. He used the offset hard-medium technique to nice impact, calmly and methodically working his manner by way of the sphere, earlier than deploying the medium compound within the last stint. He labored his well past a number of automobiles, dropped the Purple Bull of Max Verstappen and produced an amazing transfer to take P4 on the ultimate lap.
“While we’d have all cherished to have been on the rostrum one last time, a battling drive in opposition to the chances appears an apt sign-off for our time collectively.”
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