Mercedes has not yet discovered the cause of Hamilton’s problems

In the final stage in Brazil, Lewis Hamilton did not reach the final qualifying stage and finished only tenth in the race, although the seven-time world champion usually performs strongly on a wet track. After the finish, Lewis spoke about the car’s poor handling and the low grip of the rear wheels on the track.

Mercedes chief racing engineer Andrew Shovlin said the team has not yet been able to determine the exact reason that led to problems in Hamilton’s car.

Andrew Shovlin: “We can usually get both machines right. We allow riders to deviate from the basic settings. They do not have to use the same settings and can adjust them to their preferences. And if the settings work well on one of the racers, some or even all of these settings are usually transferred to the other car.

It is worth noting that Lewis’s problems were mainly related to the rear wheels’ lack of grip on the track. But if we look at the settings, we will not see the obvious reason that led to such problems.

In the sprint, when track grip decreased exiting the corners, oversteer occurred, leading to a rise in tire temperature. This in itself was starting to become a problem.

As usual, after each race we will study all the data collected to still understand the reason. Lewis’ engineers will work with him to understand the reasons before the Las Vegas round.

Another factor last weekend was the changeable weather. Qualifying for the sprint and the sprint itself took place on a dry track in warm conditions, while the main qualifying and race took place on wet asphalt. In such conditions it is impossible to judge how to adjust the settings to get the most out of the car.

This in itself was not the cause of the problems that arose, but it certainly made Lewis’ job of finding the settings for the race more difficult.”