Hamilton reveals damage caused ‘huge understeer’ in F1 Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton reveals that damage incurred on the restart in Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix caused “huge understeer” on his car that hindered his race outing.

Hamilton started ahead of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell for the first time this season in seventh but he dropped back two positions to ninth in the race.

Mercedes had placed both cars on the Medium tyre from the outset but a stoppage to clear a clash involving Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo prompted a change.

However, Hamilton and Russell struggled on the Hard compound, prompting Mercedes to switch to a two-stop with a late stint back using its initial Medium rubber.

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Hamilton had struggled throughout the opening stint and radioed to suggest that Russell be let past him, which Mercedes acted upon and the pair switched places.

The seven-time F1 champion has now disclosed that he was nursing damage throughout the race as a result of the move Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made on Lap 2.

“I don’t know what the different strategy would have been, whether it was a mistake on the Medium to start with,” Hamilton reflected.

“But we still had two really terrible Hard tyres to run through, so, yeah, a real challenge today.

“I think I picked up a bit of damage at the beginning with Charles, who came round the outside, and I had a huge understeer for the first stint.

“I couldn’t turn the car through any of the corners, that’s why I let George go.”

Mercedes was boxed into running two stints on the Hards due to the compounds that it preserved for the race, while Red Bull and Ferrari retained two sets of Mediums.

Although race winner Max Verstappen praised how durable the Hard proved to be, Hamilton labelled it as a disastrous option on Mercedes’ unpredictable W15 charger.

Asked whether a better allocation would have bolstered his hopes, Hamilton said: “The Hard tyre was pretty bad as I said. The Medium was much better, so yeah for sure.

“In hindsight, it looks like we should have had two Medium tyres but but in general the car just it was pretty bad.”

However, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was more upbeat regarding the marque’s competitiveness, citing that it made “big gains” masked with that “atrocious” first stint.