Lewis Hamilton says he had to pull the steering wheel to overcome the W15’s balance problems at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Hamilton qualified seventh after a tough qualifying session, explaining that Mercedes had discovered that one of his car’s components had not been built correctly and had taken him in the wrong direction.
His poor qualifying position prompted Mercedes’ decision to change several elements of the power unit for the race. After changing the suspension settings, Hamilton started from the pits and managed to climb to ninth place, but only after a collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz in the penultimate lap, and Nica Hulkenberg overtaking.
Despite his comeback, the seven-time champion had a frustrating race where he struggled with the car to get around the tight 90-seven corners of the Baku street circuit.
Via radio link, Hamilton mentioned his unorthodox driving style, saying: “Do you see how I drive this?”
It was a reference to his major handling problems, which appeared despite minor changes to the car after a positive 1st day of the weekend.
“It was probably the worst balance I’ve ever had,” Hamilton said. “I had so much front and no rear.”
“I had to pull on the handlebars to break the forward traction and slide through every turn. It was the strangest way to drive.”
“I knew we wouldn’t be able to overtake today. It’s one of those tracks. I don’t know why our pace has been so bad since Saturday.”
After losing an engine in Australia, Hamilton was set to receive an engine penalty at some stage this season, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff explains that the team opted for Baku because Singapore is even more difficult to pass, while he has high hopes for Austin.
“We decided to change the engine here and we knew it was going to be a miserable race, because it is very difficult to overtake in Baku,” said Wolff.
“And that’s what it was. The moment you get closer, you overheat the tires and then go backwards.”
“There were two different philosophies and we talked about it for a long time. You just swallow the pill here, because starting from 7th position we didn’t know where it would go, or do it in Austin. But we think Austin is an opportunity. Therefore, whether it was the right or wrong decision, I don’t know.”
Mercedes are pinning their hopes in Austin on a new floor they plan to introduce, although their decision to revert to an older floor model in Azerbaijan has yet to yield final results.
“The course is outstanding, but still, it’s not like it was night and day. We still suffered from the same balance performance we had on the new floor. So in Singapore, we have the same one that will change and we have to race as a team, but from Austin onwards, we will probably go to the new spec.”
The Mercedes’ confusing, sharp performance framework was highlighted by George Russell, who struggled in his first stint on the mediums but delivered a much more competitive ride on the hards.
“Difficult drive at the start, I think it’s difficult when you’re on the train and you’re fighting for position, but obviously our car is not good enough,” explained Wolff. “The balance wasn’t good enough for them to really keep up, and we suffered because of it.”
“And the second stint was really amazing. Difficult at the start, but when the car found its balance because George drove it the way it has to be driven, then we were sometimes the fastest car,” he claims.
“It’s really about who gets the best balance, who has the tires in the right frame and what kind of aero concept works well on a particular track.”
