Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes would love nothing greater than to finish their 12 years collectively on a excessive. Nevertheless, primarily based on latest type, there’s a very actual danger that their time could end not with a bang, however with a whimper.
If issues proceed like they did in Brazil final weekend, the place Hamilton certified 14th and completed tenth whereas team-mate George Russell began on the entrance row and fought for the win, then there won’t be a lot to smile about when the curtain comes down in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton’s personal verdict after the Brazilian Grand Prix was fairly damning, as he labelled the race as “crap” on Sunday evening.
He added: “Yesterday [Saturday] was horrible. At the moment [Sunday] was horrible. Yesterday was dangerous. Qualifying was dangerous. Dash race was dangerous. The automobile’s simply been dangerous all weekend.”
He additional fuelled intrigue concerning the scale of the struggles enveloping him as he delivered a cryptic message over the radio straight after the chequered flag.
“That was a catastrophe of a weekend, guys,” he stated on the cooldown lap. “That’s the worst the automobile has ever been. However thanks for contributing to attempt, and nice job to all the blokes on the pitstop.
“If that is the final time I get to carry out it was a disgrace it wasn’t nice – however grateful for you.”
Some interpreted these feedback as a revelation that Brazil was going to be Hamilton’s final race, though that’s definitely extensive of the mark.
And, though it isn’t clear precisely what he was referring to, his comment concerning the pit crew on a day after they weren’t truly known as into motion, was extra seemingly a reference to the truth that some personnel had been having their final race look of 2024 in Brazil because of the shuffling round of employees to deal with the extraordinary schedule for triple headers.
The foundation of the issue
Whereas the present performances on the observe will not be nice, what is probably the most important difficulty proper now’s that neither Mercedes nor Hamilton had an instantaneous reply after Brazil for what had gone unsuitable, regardless of there being some clear signs.
What’s at play is a repeat of what he has been battling for the reason that summer time break, when his type took a giant dip from that spell in July when he took two wins from three races.
Primarily, the issue seems to be about Hamilton having a insecurity within the automobile, particularly its rear finish.
Because the above graph evaluating the telemetry traces of Hamilton (blue) and Russell (pink) in Q1 on Sunday morning exhibits clearly, there’s a exceptional distinction in the best way the drivers had been feeding within the throttle – primarily within the decrease pace corners.
As the underside hint exhibits, Russell might enhance the accelerator constantly, whereas Hamilton’s insecurity is crystal clear. The free rear finish means he’s consistently having to again off and that leaves him bleeding pace and lap time.
The present era of floor impact equipment are fairly brutal machines – working tremendous stiff and tremendous near the bottom – and they aren’t very forgiving when driving on the sting.
Some drivers are higher suited to beat an unpredictable stability, however Hamilton is discovering himself put a bit extra on the again foot by it.
And sometimes, when a driver loses religion within the rear finish, it slides extra – and that then compounds tyre temperature points.
So what begins out as a small difficulty can shortly present itself into one thing greater and might make two almost similar automobiles vastly completely different in how they develop over a race stint.
As Mercedes head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin defined this week: “It’s truthful to say Lewis was struggling predominantly with a scarcity of rear grip.
“If we have a look at how he had arrange his automobile, it isn’t apparent the place that was coming from.
“However within the dash race, as quickly as you’ve got much less grip and you might be getting the snaps of oversteer on exit, you generate extra temperature. That in itself will extend the issue.
“As with all race, we spend plenty of time digging into the information, attempting to grasp it, and Lewis’ engineering crew might be working with him on this difficulty, attempting to verify we unravel it earlier than Vegas.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 Workforce
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photographs
Hamilton’s struggles to find a set-up he feels snug with have additionally not been helped a lot by Mercedes’ newest improve that arrived at the USA Grand Prix.
Whereas it seems to have ticked all of the containers in the case of ship further efficiency on observe, there are some questions on it additionally including some behavioural instability as nicely – as was witnessed by Hamilton’s race exit in Austin a day after George Russell’s qualifying crash.
And a selected weak spot the automobile has, in coping with successive low-speed corners, is one thing that has not been improved with the newest adjustments.
Shovlin added: “We’ve not had such good efficiency within the dry, however the points that we’re battling with this replace are the identical as those we had been battling earlier than.
“The place we are typically weak, it’s within the gradual pace corners, notably those the place you’ve got one nook following into one other. There may be plenty of turning of the automobile, and that could be a weak spot that we have to work on.”
With sector two of Interlagos being just about all about interconnected gradual corners, it was apparent that the Brazil occasion was going to probably be harder than regular for the crew.
Engaged on an answer
The one optimistic for Hamilton proper now’s that not less than Russell’s performances present what is feasible with the automobile.
And a few forthcoming high-speed venues, particularly Qatar, might assist higher expose the strengths of the W15 package deal quite than its weaknesses.
Hamilton has admitted that issues will not be straightforward proper now, however there was no different possibility than to dig deeper along with his crew to attempt to discover a method out of it earlier than Abu Dhabi.
“Clearly, it is devastating to have these dangerous races within the second half of the season,” he stated. “However all I can say is, we’re attempting.
“But it surely’s undoubtedly not acceptable. It is undoubtedly not ok. And we have now to take accountability. I’ve to take accountability. However I’m driving.; I’m doing the most effective with what I’ve obtained.
“The automobile has been the worst this weekend, and I do not know what it’s. We’ll have to search out out what it’s.”
That work started for Hamilton this week with some intense work on the manufacturing facility to sit down down with the engineers, and spend time within the simulator yesterday, to attempt to get some solutions as to what’s taking place.
Las Vegas will inform us simply how a lot these efforts have paid off.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photographs
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