Lewis Hamilton retired from the Australian Grand Prix after his Mercedes W15 stopped with an apparent engine failure.
Hamilton slowed down on the back straight after just 16 laps at Albert Park, reported an “engine failure” over the team radio, and then parked at the side of the track.
Lewis Hamilton absent from Australian GP
The reliability issue arose after Hamilton pitted early after starting on soft tyres, with the seven-time world champion suffering from Mercedes' decision to start on red-striped rubber before the race even started. was questioned over the radio.
Hamilton's stop was his second retirement of the day in Melbourne, after Max Verstappen stopped with a rear break problem in his Red Bull RB20, ending the reigning world champion's hopes of equaling his record of 10 consecutive wins.
Hamilton's first DNF of the season meant he had a miserable weekend, dropping out of Q2 on Saturday and qualifying no better than 11th.
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Mercedes have struggled against the W15 in the early races of this season, with Hamilton saying the car's inconsistency was “really confusing”.
The comments came after Hamilton finished 18th out of 19 cars in FP2, with the 39-year-old admitting after Friday's practice that his confidence in the car was at rock bottom.
he said: “I obviously don’t feel well.
“It was probably one of the worst sessions I've had in a long time.
“FP1 felt very good overall – the car in FP1, the first run, it was actually the best it ever felt – but it got worse and worse.
“We made some big changes to FP2 and it was tough.
“After that session, I felt the least confident I've ever felt in this car.
“But there are positives as well.” [like] That FP1 run we did. ”
Hamilton's retirement is his first since last season's Qatar Grand Prix at Lusail, and comes after he finished seventh and ninth in the opening two races of the 2024 season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, respectively.
Hamilton is in his final season with Mercedes, having announced last month that he would join Ferrari on a multi-year deal from 2025.
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