Lewis Hamilton said he couldn’t have finished better than third in the Singapore Grand Prix because of the trouble he was having with his brakes.
Both Mercedes drivers were told on the radio during the race that they had a braking problem.
“The first stop we extended the tyres, we were supposed to go to lap 11 and we ended up, I was at 14 and they pitted me the same lap as they pit Daniel [Ricciardo], which didn’t make sense to me. So that was a bit of a missed opportunity. But anyway as I say I had such problems with my brakes I wouldn’t have been able to beat Daniel anyway.”
Hamilton lost third place to Kimi Raikkonen at one stage after running wide but was able to get ahead of the Ferrari again later on. The Mercedes drivers said he wasn’t able to achieve a better result today.
“I feel like I did everything I could,” said Hamilton. “Obviously when you have a mistake that’s not a great thing but it wouldn’t have made really much difference.”
“A very trying weekend. These ones come along sometimes, you just need to take it on the chin.”
Hamilton lost the lead in the championship to Nico Rosberg but said he is remaining calm.
“I’ve been exactly in this point in the season in this position before but I’ve definitely been in a lot worse.”
Kansas
18th September 2016, 16:13
cue the excuses….
sunny stivala
20th September 2016, 16:04
According to the “enforcer” Mercedes had no brakes problems, he said that the problem was management of the brakes.
LovelyLovelyLuffield
18th September 2016, 16:22
That same brake problem could have saved that darned strategy Ferrari pulled. It was a 1-second, 2-second gap, and if Kimi really wanted to, he’d have hassled Lewis even more to force him into a mistake, get 3rd back and stay 3rd, maybe even get a tow from Dan and REALLY put more pressure on Rosberg.
Immense missed opportunity, really. Had Seb been in the same position, he would have had a good chance of winning the race.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
18th September 2016, 16:46
Your comment makes no sense at all.
Patrick (@paeschli)
18th September 2016, 17:17
It was the Ferrari’s strategist who ruined Kimi’s podium.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
18th September 2016, 16:24
Gotta love those missed opportunities. #Sigh.
Ajaxn
18th September 2016, 16:42
Another race where Hamilton’s car suffers systems issues. It seems the season’s closure is to mirror the way it started.
If i had to guess, i would say Mercedes believes they owe Rosberg a title, before the car specifications change again, and so following Hamilton’s apparently ‘slow start’ last week, we have this week where Hamiltion never had a chance to qualify in pole let alone win with his poor setup.
What you have is the A driver with a B setup who was always going to finish poorly by his standards, whilst the B driver even with an A setup gives the opposition a chance of snatching the win.
Mercedes already has the constructors sown up, so now its just a case of which driver they allow the win. How must Hamiltion feel in that position? I quess somewhere in all this is the challenge to keep the F1 championship ‘entertaining’ whilst making the most of the ‘odds’ in their favor.
Peppermint-Lemon (@)
18th September 2016, 16:54
If anything the race showed that support is still behind Hamilton considering they gambled Rosbergs first place to get Hamilton on the podium to minimise his championship points damage.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
18th September 2016, 17:09
how close did Nico actually come to losing that first place anyways? a few seconds?
I too was listening to the commentators try to build up Nico at the end when they manufactured the lets help HAM and disadvantage Nico narrative. Pretty creative stuff. But it works, because people repeat the preachers lines from Sunday mass.
bosyber (@bosyber)
18th September 2016, 19:26
I guess my idea that the German RTL commentary was useless (and a few seconds slow to react when not in a commercial break) was bettered then by the Sky guys being worse than useless in this @xsavior? For the lead the RTL people were just slow to guess/see what happened, but not wrong.
I do think @peppermint-lemon has a point, seems the team did all it could to limit the damage to Hamilton (including, maybe reporting the BBC’s mysterious downforce deficit in quali). I predicted Ricciardo to better Rosberg, but I should have stuck to my gut feeling ROS had it this weekend.
Ajaxn
19th September 2016, 1:17
It’s a wonder Mercedes didn’t finish second and fourth. With all their advantages Mercedes should have finished first and second, but this assumes their best driver Hamilton is given a fair shake. Little wonder that Lewis seemed sanguine about the whole situation. It’s strange how the brakes issue shared by the Mercedes drivers righted itself for Rosberg to push harder at the end when he needed to.
It’s still all to play for, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
19th September 2016, 3:53
Mercedes run a very lean brake setup which is why they have brake issues, I believe.
If they run in traffic with less air going through the ducts they have issues, if they have to take more extreme braking measures, it will cause greater rates of change and thus great instabilities/reliability issues.
It’s no wonder why Lewis had a more significant challenge with his brakes. The Merc is designed to lead from the front, just like Seb’s RBR2011+.
You can’t bet on who is going to win this year, reliability issues and negligence in Lewis’ clutch/start/setup issues are causing too much of a distortion to adequately predict reliably. The only thing that can be said, is if Lewis doesn’t have reliability or start issues, he will open a gap and win the championship. But that wouldn’t be good for TV ratings, as demonstrated by the multitudes who go on line and complain about how hes winning and how Merc are favoring him and Nico is so smart and intellectual (obvious stereotypes/biases). It would be nice to see Lewis get a fair shot, but he hasn’t gotten once since Ross left. Every year since 2014 hes had to contend with ‘car issues’ and his teammate coming back. Its staged, its too predictable in the presentation.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
18th September 2016, 17:05
Mercedes will dominate as easily next year. not unless they drop the 105/100kg fuel limit (per race)
this is about appealing to market forces and promoting a brand.
Patrick (@paeschli)
18th September 2016, 17:19
*sigh*
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th September 2016, 17:41
Given the problems both drivers have had on occasions there is no reason to assume they are particular to Hamilton. And the idea a team would intentionally hobble a car they spent stratospheric sums on developing, and a driver they spent almost comparable sums acquiring, is completely bonkers.
This is a lazy, knee-jerk flight of fancy, and it’s tedious to keep hearing it whenever car 44 or its driver has the slightest setback. Hamilton’s breakfast pastries are slightly underdone? It’s the nefarious doings of Toto Wolff!
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
18th September 2016, 18:38
That’s a COTD (or CO2016) to yourself, Keith?
x303 (@x303)
18th September 2016, 23:42
I agree with Keith here but it was seen in the past that a team favoured one of its drivers over the other for various reasons.
But until today, Mercedes bas been fair to its drivers.
Ajaxn
19th September 2016, 0:59
All I am saying is it would suit team Mercedes to have a German winner for all kinds of reasons, not least team moral. The easiest way to achieve that would be these repeated systems issues. Right now only Rosberg will stop Rosberg from winning the championship.
It also doesn’t help that Hamilton has had Rosberg’s old crew for this season, after so many years with Rosberg they must have some residual loyalty for their former driver. Hamilton’s old crew meanwhile only know how to win.
As for our commentators, as long as they continue to blaim the driver and not the car, most people will accept whatever the hell they are fed.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
19th September 2016, 4:37
Good. Stick to your belief.
mystic one (@mysticus)
18th September 2016, 19:14
“Given the problems both drivers have had on occasions there is no reason to assume they are particular to Hamilton.”
Can you provide the statistics and facts where they both had same/similar amounts of failures or problems?
Currently I dont remember from the back of my head that Rosberg had any major problems or as many problems as Ham had?
Not saying team deliberately did this, but it is a big coincidence they started after switching Ham’s side of garage to Ros’s…
bosyber (@bosyber)
18th September 2016, 19:33
Of course @mysticus, that argument goes both ways: both here and in Baku, it seemed both had (similar) problems, for example – Rosbergs champions/Hamiltons detractors would say the results indicated Rosberg just was better at dealing with it. I don’t quite think that, because driving in the lead in the Merc. is clearly a quite different experience from being in the field (see also ROS in Germany), but saying Rosberg had no problems is untrue.
Sure he had less, and in races that he didn’t lead into the 1st corner he was not great, but in the races he did that, he was pretty good this year, taking his chances when they are offered. And there we are, quite an interesting WDC developing, in my mind.
pastaman (@)
19th September 2016, 1:52
You don’t need statistics, just a little critical thinking…
Jabosha (@jabosha)
19th September 2016, 3:44
That’s because reliabilty problems haven’t been even. Hamilton again, has had more problems. Only one of them had to take grid penalty, anyone suggesting otherwise is being disengenuous.
Nick (@nick101)
19th September 2016, 3:44
Nico Rosberg Retirements
7 2016 Spain – Collision
6 2015 Russian – Throttle
5 2015 Italy – Engine
4 2014 Singapore – Electronics
3 2014 Britain – Gearbox
2 2013 Hungary – Engine
1 2013 China 4 – Suspension
Lewis Hamilton Retirements
24 2016 Spain – Collision
23 2015 Singapore – Throttle
22 2014 Belgium – Handling
21 2014 Canada – Brakes
20 2014 Australia – Engine
19 2013 Japan – Undertray
So that would be Rosberg with MORE retirements than Hamilton…
DamonW
19th September 2016, 7:00
It’s beyond a joke this year with all the problems Hamilton has had. I can’t wait until Red Bull are in the fight for the title, only then I feel these problems will magically disappear.
When has Lewis been so off the pace with no problems? He didn’t suddenly forget to drive fast… he seems to be handling it pretty well but I’d be going crazy behind the scenes, I hope he is….
AndrewW
19th September 2016, 12:13
Excuses, excuses. ROS’s error-free driving and better starts mean he doesn’t even need pole to beat HAM. This is beginning to look increasingly like a year ROS can win in humiliating fashion. ROS’s weaknesses relative to HAM, namely racing in the wet and wheel-to-wheel duelling will not occur frequently enough for HAM to catch up. ROS will win the championship this year.
David BR
19th September 2016, 19:27
The next two races are Hamilton tracks, particularly if it rains, so if Rosberg wins either, it would start to look good for him as Hamilton isn’t really dominant on any of the remaining tracks. But win in humiliating fashion seems unlikely.
David BR
19th September 2016, 19:22
Singapore is a Rosberg track and he duly won. Excuses pointless. If both are driving near their best, then the remaining races should reflect their strengths:
Malaysia – HAM
Japan – HAM
US – even, edge to HAM
Mexico – ROS
Brazil – ROS
Abu Dhabi – even, edge to HAM
I’d say it’s going to be very close. Rain in Mexico or Brazil could just give Hamilton the edge needed.
Thomson (@fish123)
19th September 2016, 23:59
excuses after excuses. Just say Nico was better! Be a good sportsman!