SUMMARY
- Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton faces nightmare in Chinese Grand Prix with disastrous qualifying session and strategic setbacks.
- Hamilton expresses frustration over car performance, radioing team about handling issues and struggles to make progress during the race.
Chinese Grand Prix weekend unfolded like a horror movie for the Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. After having a good time bundled in the glory of a podium finish in the Sprint race, his hopes for a strong showing in the main event were violently put off. Qualifying turned into a disaster for Hamilton. In a risky gamble, Mercedes chose to go with an experimental setup change on his car.
However, the British sensation acknowledges his role in the mishap. During the qualifying session in Shanghai, Hamilton was disappointed to find himself stuck in P18. As the driver started off the race on Sunday, the issues with the W15 kept holding him back. Quite early into the race, he pitted alongside Lance Stroll while his teammate, George Russell was also struggling with the tires in his Silver Arrows car.
Lewis Hamilton expresses frustration with Mercedes performance in China
The race day proved to be a nightmare for Mercedes and its drivers. The strategic issues backfired spectacularly, leaving Hamilton with a car that felt like it was, “The car’s just sliding around everywhere, it feels like something’s broken”. Hamilton suffered further setbacks after falling to the bottom of the pack, which was a significant setback.
Hamilton team radio:
“I can’t even catch him mate. This car is so slow.”
He’s behind an Alpine.
— formularacers (@formularacers_) April 21, 2024
The Briton sent a frustrated reply to the team over the radio, “I can’t even catch him, mate. This car is so slow.” Stuck behind slower cars, he struggled to make any progress. A partial safety car after Bottas’ exit wiped out his progress and returned him to the midfield shuffle, but a virtual safety car gave him a glimpse of faith by allowing him to pull over for new tires.
With the race in turmoil with debris all over the circuit, Hamilton’s dreams of finishing on the podium in Shanghai were entirely crushed. His goal became a frantic battle for points if he could even get up to the cars in front of him, rather than winning.
Pundits critique Lewis Hamilton’s qualifying error
Lewis Hamilton’s dreadful performance in China highlighted a concerning trend for Mercedes. Despite preseason optimism surrounding the new W15, the car’s on-track performance has fallen short of expectations. While simulation data promised significant downforce improvements, lap times have not reflected those gains.
Not giving Lewis any credit, also calling him “Hamilton” instead of Lewis… that behind the scenes beef at Mercedes must be crazy😭 pic.twitter.com/xOxXogx1BA
— leo🐋 (@formuleo_) April 20, 2024
This performance disparity has left Mercedes scrambling for solutions. Beyond his P2 finish in the Sprint race, the team has not secured a single podium this season. Their best Grand Prix result so far is a P5, leaving them a significant 113 points further away from the championship leaders Red Bull. Former F1 driver Robert Doornbos echoed these concerns, calling the points deficit to Red Bull “embarrassing.”
Doornbos stated, “It is embarrassing for Mercedes to have so few points now. Hamilton went from hero to zero. He was second in the sprint race and then you’re eighteenth in qualifying for the race.” Mercedes, once the dominant force in Formula 1, now faces a critical juncture. They must bridge the performance gap with Red Bull and quickly develop a competitive car if they hope to salvage their championship aspirations.
