Lewis Hamilton said he thought he had sustained damage similar to the understeer he experienced in his Mercedes as he crossed the line in ninth place at the Chinese Grand Prix.
After Saturday's shocking Q1 exit, Mercedes and Hamilton adopted a bold and different strategy by starting on soft tyres, but initial progress from 18th on the grid was limited and Hamilton missed the start. I even lost a position. The soft compound “fell apart after the first lap.”
Set-up issue caused Lewis Hamilton to struggle with unprecedented understeer
Once the soft tires were out of the way, Hamilton was eventually able to move up the order and crossed the line in a respectable 9th place, although Hamilton was ahead of teammate George Russell (3 places up in 6th place). I felt like I was in that realm too. He should have been aiming for the end.
“I've never had so much understeer in my life, so at first I thought maybe I had hit someone. So I turned in at low speed and waited, waited, waited.” Hamilton admitted to the media after the race.
“So at one point there was debris falling all over the place and I thought maybe I had damaged something like the other things, but it was just the setup I chose.
“With better decisions in the set-up we would be where George is, but we have to keep fighting.”
Recommended by PlanetF1.com
F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates
F1 Schedule: When and where will the next F1 race be held?
After leading the first half of the mini-race and scoring a best finish of second in Saturday's sprint, Sunday's Grand Prix in China was a tough one for Hamilton, who finished ninth for the third time in the 2024 F1 season. was recorded.
The Shanghai International Circuit is where Hamilton achieved a record six wins so far, and the seven-time world champion paid tribute to fans after his first F1 visit since 2019, saying: “It's great to be back.'' I can't wait,” he admitted. ”.
“The city is great, the fans…I met them this morning at the hotel. They've been with me for 16 years,” he said.
“And you see them on the course. They've been so cooperative, so it's really beautiful to see.
“And I'm really happy to be back in Shanghai. The track is great and I can't wait to come back next year.”
Hamilton has continued this trend, sitting ninth in the drivers' championship heading into the next race in Miami, which, like China, will be a weekend of F1 sprints.
Read next – Toto Wolff's worrying verdict after 'not good enough' result at Chinese GP