Engine problem at Hamilton: Why Mercedes was silent about it

(Motorsport-Complete.com) – “The engine sounds as if it would die.” Lewis Hamilton sparked that before the Hungarian Unswerving Prix at Mercedes-Field, and with a certain urgency in his voice. The Formula 1 world champion did not initially get an answer to this – due to the radio ban in the introductory round.

In fact there was no field with the drive on the Hamilton car, but Hamilton only found out when the race had already started. And now Andrew Shovlin, as lead engineer of the Mercedes-Group, explains modified into as soon as it happened in the background.

“There were difficulties with a sensor for the idle function”, says Shovlin in a Mercedes video. A “false alarm” occurred when Hamilton was on the starting grid before the introductory lap.

The restrictions due to the radio ban

“There is no field per se,” says Shovlin. “The engine would not have died. There is even a protective function that would prevent the engine from dying, even if it really came to this.”

Only: Exactly these records Mercedes could not to Hamilton and therefore not calm the Pole man. Shovlin explains: “We couldn’t tell him that everything was okay because the rules prohibit speaking to the driver during the entire introductory round.” A rule that was fatal to the Haas drivers.

At Mercedes, a strange field was created between the command post and the racing car: “We knew everything was fine, but Lewis was worried for a few minutes.” Only when the race started and the radio ban lifted, did the Mercedes crew give the Formula 1 leader relief.

Bottas smacked the beginning, but why?

At this point, however, the other Mercedes driver himself got into trouble: Valtteri Bottas had a false start because of him Light on Fresh had irritated.

Shovlin also gives the background and refers to the Mercedes training program for race starts: “We simulate the point in time at which the starting lights go out with the lights all go out on the steering wheel. “

Because something was flickering on the Fresh, Bottas felt “Fortunately,” says Shovlin, “he kept the clutch pressed and avoided an early start.”

Why there is no early start battle

It was not an early start because Bottas had not moved far enough out of the start box to activate the automatic Formula 1 system. “His car was still in the [zulässigen] area,” says Shovlin.

Bottas consequently did not get a penalty for his false start, but took a handicap and lost “really many positions”, so Shovlin. Coming from second place on the first meters, he fell back to sixth. In the end he managed to catch up, but “only” up to third place behind Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Speaking of Verstappen: In the early stages of the race, Hamilton was no longer responsible for him. The reason: a misunderstanding on the radio!