LEWIS HAMILTON’s superb start to the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix weekend ended in disaster with teething issues with his new Ferrari team resurfacing.
Hamilton started off the weekend by scoring pole for the Sprint race but it ended in him being DISQUALIFIED from the Grand Prix.
ReutersLewis Hamilton’s engineer teething issues continued as his Chinese Grand Prix weekend turned sour[/caption]
AFPHamilton clashed with his engineer over when to perform a swap with Charles Leclerc[/caption]
It all started so well in Shanghai as he became the first British driver and first driver over the age of 40 to achieve the feats since Nigel Mansell more than 30 years ago.
The 40-year-old then won the Shanghai Sprint in style, earning praise from race engineer Riccardo Adami for a “masterclass in tyre management”.
However, Hamilton only qualified fifth for Sunday’s feature race, before finishing P6 as a two-stop strategy gamble failed to pay off.
Things then got even worse as one of the skid blocks on Hamilton’s car was found to be less than the required thickness after the race – which led to his result being wiped entirely.
Team-mate Charles Leclerc was also disqualified, as was Pierre Gasly.
Ferrari team-mates Hamilton and Leclerc made contact on a fiery opening lap at the front of the pack.
The seven-time world champion said on his team radio: “I’ve been hit by someone” and there was visible damage on Leclerc’s front wing.
Leclerc was told on the radio that he has “20 to 30 points” of downforce loss as a result of the damage to his front wing which had lost an end plate.
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Despite this damage, Leclerc was showing more pace than Hamilton.
This prompted Ferrari to ask Hamilton to move aside for his team-mate, with the frustrated Brit eventually yielding following a brief radio clash with Adami over when the swap would take place.
On lap 20 Hamilton said: “I think I’m going to let Charles through because I’m struggling.”
Adami replied: “We are swapping cars at Turn 14.”
Hamilton said: “I’ll let Charles through when he’s closer.”
He pleaded his case to stay ahead as he edged closer to ex-Mercedes team-mate George Russell, saying: “I’m closing up a little bit.”
But Adami confirmed: “Can we swap this lap.”
Hamilton snapped back: “I’ll tell you when we can swap.”
Leclerc moved past on Lap 21, saying on the radio: “This is a shame. The pace is there.”
Hamilton had also asked his engineer to provide better information after being provided with repeated information.
He asked: “Give me some feedback guys, come on. I need feedback on where I’m losing [time].”
Adami said: “Exit 13,” to which Hamilton responded: “Yeah you told me that already.”
Hamilton pitted for a second time towards the end of the race to finish strongly on quicker tyres.
But the move backfired as he was unable to overtake Max Verstappen, who overtook Leclerc with three laps to go to finish P4.
Hamilton said on his cool-down lap: “I know that was tough but let’s keep pushing for those improvements we can make for sure. Let’s not give up.”
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