The engine cooling problem which Lewis Hamilton said put him in a “difficult position” during the Australian Grand Prix was caused by a small rise in ambient temperatures.
During the Australian Grand Prix broadcast Hamilton was heard telling his team they had put him in a “difficult position”. It later emerged he was referring to rising temperatures in his car, as he had been told too alter his driving to increase cooling.
Hamilton’s race engineer, Pete Bonnington, first told his driver he needed to “lift and coast” to bring his temperatures down with around 10 laps of the race remaining.
Mercedes’ chief strategist James Vowles said that the message was related to managing the temperature of the internal combustion engine in Hamilton’s car.
“That was all about engine cooling and keeping the power unit cool during the course of the race,” said Vowles in a video published by Mercedes. “We push everything to the limit, as you would imagine, and one of those is…