The Technical Director of Mercedes, James Allison, attributed Lewis Hamilton’s unexpected error at the Chinese Grand Prix to the challenging nature of the team’s 2024 Formula 1 car. Despite a promising start in wet conditions, Hamilton’s weekend took a turn for the worse when he locked up his wheels at turn 14 during qualifying, resulting in an early elimination in Q1. Hamilton, who managed to finish in ninth place in the race, struggled with extreme understeer due to an experimental setup choice on his Mercedes. Allison acknowledges that the risks involved in using the revised Sprint format, which allows for setup changes during the weekend, were evident in Hamilton’s performance. In a post-race review video, Allison shared his thoughts on the parc fermé rule, stating that while it offers the opportunity to adjust the car, poor choices can lead to slower performance and suffering, with the consequences only becoming apparent at crucial moments like qualifying.
Allison believes that if Hamilton had followed the same strategy as his teammate George Russell in the early stages, he would have easily progressed to the pole position shootout.
“I don’t need to speculate on this, because Lewis made it clear afterwards. He expressed his regret for not adopting George’s approach. In Q1, George refueled to make two timed laps, allowing him to feel the car on the first quick lap, followed by a cool-down lap, and then another attempt. This would have given Lewis more confidence and understanding of the car,” Allison explained.
On the other hand, Lewis went out later in the session and only did one timed lap. He later admitted that he needed another lap. The changes made to the car gave him more understeer, making it easier for the brakes to lock up. Lewis struggled with this issue, as he was applying too much pressure on the front brakes, leading to difficulties.
We all witnessed what happened on his second attempt. As it was only his second timed lap, he approached the corner after the main straight and lost control during braking, going too deep. This mistake alone cost him 0.7 seconds, a significant difference that prevented him from advancing to Q3.
Allison emphasized that Mercedes must take responsibility for producing an unstable car this season, which can lead to “unusual” errors from the drivers.
Hamilton, to his credit, acknowledged his mistake. However, we must also acknowledge that we should have strongly encouraged him to follow a similar program to George’s. This is our mistake, and we must work on developing a car that is not as challenging to drive as the current one, as it is causing our drivers to make unusual errors.
Having two of the best drivers in the world, it is not typical for Lewis to lock up the wheels at the end of a straight into a corner. This is a direct result of the car being too difficult to control.
