Lewis Hamilton wasn’t holding back as he told Mercedes
that his W15 was the “worst” it had ever been as he completed the Brazilian
Grand Prix in 10th place.
Hamilton had
a wretched time at the Interlagos circuit, a track where he has won three times
in the past, but this weekend all he achieved was a single point and a sore
back.
Lewis Hamilton: At least one car was behaving
Hamilton had a difficult start to the weekend,
complaining of pain during Friday’s FP1 as he struggled with bouncing.
“I’m actually in a bit of pain, mate. How much longer we
got?” he asked his race engineer Pete Bonnington late in the session. He was
told one more lap.
His weekend went from bad to worse as he didn’t have the
pace in Sprint qualifying or the Sprint, finishing down in 11th place before
being eliminated from Sunday morning’s qualifying in 16th place. “Damn
car,” he rued as he made his way back to the Mercedes garage.
Speaking to the media as his team-mate George Russell
contested Q3 and qualified up on the front row of the grid, Hamilton said: “The
car I have right now, it’s the worst I’ve ever driven.”
It was a complaint he reiterated to Mercedes at the end
of the 71-lap Grand Prix.
“That was a disaster weekend, guys,” he radioed to
Mercedes after taking the chequered flag in 10th place. “That’s the worst the
car’s ever been.
“But thank you for continuing to try, great job.
“To all the guys that are p*ssed off, if this is the last
time that I get to perform, it’s a shame it wasn’t great, but grateful to you.”
As Russell went on to finish the Grand Prix in fourth place,
Hamilton could only recover to 10th where he was almost 30 seconds down on his
team-mate.
“We were just slow, it was really, really tough,” he
told Sky F1.
“But I do really want to say a big thank you to the guys in
the garage. They turned up super early this morning and still did a great job
throughout the weekend.
“I know everyone back in the factory will be feeling the
pain. The team could have won, also, today [with Russell]. At least one car was
behaving.”
Hamilton suffered severe porpoising throughout the weekend
and complained about his W15’s set-up.
“It’s like a plank of wood,” he lamented. “There’s no suspension. It’s just bouncing on the tyres, everywhere. Can’t get on the power anywhere.
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