Lewis Hamilton will get a new chassis for the United States Grand Prix after Mercedes found two large cracks in his chassis which they believe could be to blame for his poor form.
The Briton described his recent performances as “shocking” and “unexplainable” when compared to team-mate Nico Rosberg who has outperformed Hamilton lately.
In an effort to understand Hamilton’s problems, Mercedes conducted a detailed strip-down of his W04 chassis and subsequently discovered the damage.
“We knew he had had some excursions over kerbs and things, but when we actually got here and started to strip everything down, the damage was pretty significant. It may even be at a level that was affecting the handling of the car,” team principal Ross Brawn told Autosport.
“So we have put a new chassis on the car, and he will go into the weekend with a new chassis because we want to clear all our doubt. There were certainly some very odd things between the two cars in Abu Dhabi.”
