For this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has decided to keep Mercedes’ most recent upgrade package on his W15, despite the challenges he had in Austin last week.
With the decision, the Brackley-based team will be able to collect more important data on the efficacy of the new components and do a useful back-to-back specification comparison between its two cars.
An early race spin was one of the seven-time world champion’s problems at the US Grand Prix, which Hamilton first ascribed to possible balance problems brought on by the modified parts.
Teammate George Russell’s nearly identical collision in qualifying at the same Turn 19, which damaged his new components, confirmed his concerns.
Mercedes had to choose which driver would pilot the modifications in Mexico since Russell’s parts were currently being repaired and would be returning for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
To enable vital back-to-back data collection, the team decided that Russell would return to the original standard and Hamilton would continue using the new package.
Hamilton had the opportunity to examine his Austin data before this weekend’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and concluded that his early death on race day was probably due to the bumps in the circuit rather than issues with the modifications.
“The data indicates that we have three-wheeling, so the left wheel begins to move,” he said. In essence, the car is jacking.
On the back, we can observe that the right height fluctuates a lot, resulting in a 12 to 15 mm discrepancy as we approach the corner. A 40-kilometre [per hour] tailwind is also visible.
As you may guess, the downforce is ideal for a brief period before becoming excessively high. I believe it was a mixture of all those factors because you then go off the peak.
The car is bouncing in the video, and the left wheel begins to bounce as well. After that, I believe we simply lose the load, and I believe the floor is perhaps a little more sensitive than it was before.
“But since we need to gather more data on it, I’ve kept it on this weekend because it’s a much less bouncy circuit.”
Russell concurred with his friend, arguing that an excessively aggressive setup rather than the new parts themselves was the cause of Austin’s problems.
After reviewing everything from Austin for a few days, I believe it’s reasonable to argue that our car setup was a little too near to the wind,” he remarked.
It bit Lewis and me over Saturday and Sunday as we set up in an aggressive, close-to-the-ground manner. However, we showed tremendous performance once we were able to complete the loop. After reviewing everything from Austin for a few days, I believe it’s reasonable to argue that our car setup was a little too near to the wind,” he remarked.
It bit Lewis and myself over Saturday and Sunday as we set up in an aggressive, close-to-the-ground manner. However, we showed tremendous performance once we were able to complete the loop.” I think it’s fair to say we were sailing a bit too close to the wind with how we set up our car,” he said after reviewing everything from Austin over a few days.
It obviously bit Lewis and me over Saturday and Sunday as we set up in a really aggressive, close-to-the-ground manner. However, we displayed genuine indications of excellent performance once we were able to complete the lap.
As a result, Russell is confident in the split-specification plan for this weekend.
“I think we’ll have a good chance to see across the two cars this weekend in Mexico,” he continued.
“We only have one upgrade this weekend, and Lewis had the option to use the new one because I was the one who broke it last week.”
The rookie Kimi Antonelli will be driving Hamilton’s vehicle for Friday’s first practice in Mexico.
After the 18-year-old’s short debut on Mercedes’ W15 at Monza last month ended in the barriers, Hamilton felt compelled to give his successor some advice before he returned to the track in FP1.
Hamilton remarked, “Kimi is young and has learned from his first outing in Monza.” “Obviously, he’s working with Bono next year, and I’m here to support him in any way I can, so we did our briefing together.
As I told him, I believe the important thing is that he doesn’t have to blow the world away on the first lap. Enjoy it and just get into it. Early on, I informed him that the track was filthy.
