Lewis Hamiltonsays his Mercedes performed completely differently at Albert Park compared to earlier rounds in Bahrain and Jeddah before he was forced out of the race.
The Mercedes driver became the second retirement from the race after his power unit suddenly cut out along Lakeside Drive on lap 16.
He had been the highest-starting driver on soft tyres in 11th, picking up two places to run ninth before pitting for hard rubber. He was lying in 11th place before his power unit failed without warning.
“I didn’t feel it [going] – it just went in one go,” he told the official F1 channel. “I didn’t feel it coming.”
Hamilton’s retirement capped off a frustrating weekend for him at Albert Park. He failed to reach Q3 on Saturday after appearing to struggle for pace relative to team mate George Russell, who was quicker than him in every timed session except third practice.
Asked if he had learned anything about his car over his 15 racing laps before retirement to help explain the difficulties he had with his car over the weekend, Hamilton said he had learned “nothing more than I’ve noticed before.” Concerningly for Mercedes, Hamilton said the car’s performance was entirely inconsistent with how they had run in previous rounds.
“We didn’t look terrible in the high-speed [corners], but we’re slow in the low speed this weekend,” he continued. “Whereas in the past race we were bad in the high-speed and good in the low. So a real struggle this weekend.”
His failure to finish leaves him ninth in the championship on just eight points, ten behind his ninth-placed Russell, who retired after a heavy crash on the penultimate lap. Hamilton says he rues not having the opportunity to score points.
“It’s definitely frustrating because it was so early in the race I was hoping to be able to progress forwards and was on a different strategy to everyone. But these things happen.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Australian Grand Prix
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…