“Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton’s penultimate grand prix as a Mercedes driver was a miserable affair.

He asked to retire his car after falling to the back of the field. Although he took the chequered flag he finished out of the points in 12th place.

Throughout the race Hamilton again grappled with the balance of his W15 and was dismayed to learn how much slower he was lapping than the leaders early on. But what really did for his chances was a pair of penalties: One for jumping the start and another for speeding in the pits.

Here’s his perspective on how the Qatar Grand Prix unfolded, shown through a selection of significant radio exchanges between him and race engineer Peter Bonnington.

Hamilton’s Qatar Grand Prix radio

“Sorry about that, guys”
“Very high pace”
“Where is a second then, mate?”
“Tyres still holding on”
“The double yellow keeps flashing up”
“Just trust me to have this luck”
“Am I dead last now, yeah?”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with this car”
“We can now retire the car”

“Sorry about that, guys”

Hamilton’s race got off to a bad start immediately as he began to creep away from the line before the five lights were extinguished. He appeared to realise immediately that a penalty was inevitable.

“Very high pace”

As the race restarted for the first time, Fernando Alonso had a snap of oversteer exiting the last corner and Hamilton took eighth place off him. As the race settled down, Hamilton was surprised how hard those ahead were pushing.

“Where is a second then, mate?”

Hamilton didn’t seem remotely surprised by his…