Mercedes wants to give Hamilton car in which 'it's harder to make mistakes'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
On the restart in Baku, Lewis Hamilton accidentally pressed a button that changed his brake balance, resulting in him braking completely. In the Race Debrief of Mercedes Mike Elliott (Director of Engineering) tells us that Mercedes wants to do everything to prevent this from happening in future.
Hamilton did everything right
"Lewis did everything right," said Elliott. "He drove the car to the grid, turned off the different buttons and settings he needed to turn off, turned on the ones he needed to turn on. Everything was ready to start the race right." On the restart, everything seemed to be going well at first. "He made a fantastic start and got alongside Sergio Perez."
While swerve he hit the 'magic button'. "Unfortunately he didn't feel that he had done it, so he was totally unaware that he was going to have a problem. At the point where he braked, which was the normal braking point for him, all the brake balance had shifted forward, putting all the load on the front tyres and blocking them. From that point on he couldn't do anything but go wide."
Harder to make mistakes
Elliott says he has spoken to Hamilton about the incident. "I know Lewis feels a bit guilty about it, but the reality is that Lewis makes so few mistakes and that's what really sets him apart from some other drivers."
Plans are in place for the next race in France to find a solution. "It's our duty to try and give him a car where it's harder for him to make mistakes. We have to do our part in that, see how we can improve that and that is something we will put in place for the next race."