The “difficult situation” of Lewis Hamilton due to cooling issues with his engine

Finishing in fourth place in Australia, Lewis Hamilton lost his duel against George Russell. The young driver took advantage of his teammate’s pit stop to move up one position and joined Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez on the Australian podium.

In the final laps of the race, the seven-time world champion sent a message to his teams. A message that, without context, may seem salty. “Guys, you’re putting me in a really difficult position,” stated Hamilton, just behind his teammate. Mercedes’ strategy director, James Vowles, wanted to explain these remarks to put an end to criticism towards the driver.

“It revolved around the engine cooling and keeping the power unit cool during the race,” he said. “We push everything to the limit, as you can imagine, and we do it by closing the bodywork or changing the design of the vents at the back of the car.”

During a race, when you’re following another car, it meant that Lewis had to make a compromise. He had to get rid of the dirty air from the car in front and make sure to keep cool air flowing through the radiators to lower the temperature of the power unit. But doing that makes the battle with the car in front particularly difficult, that’s where his message » comes from, revealed Vowles.

Lewis Hamilton’s message was therefore not a criticism of his team, but rather a response to their request to ease off the accelerator before the braking zone in order to preserve the power unit at the correct temperature.