0
Lewis Hamilton has denied a damp patch near his grid slot was the reason for his poor start in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Overnight rain meant that damp patches appeared all over the Suzuka circuit prior to the start of Sunday's race, and it was believed that one of those was to blame for his poor getaway which saw him drop down from second to eighth.
"Yeah, just from the getgo, lots of wheelspin, and then I just lit them up and I was just losing ground as everyone gained traction moving away," said the Mercedes driver. I could have been partly with the wet patch but in general, it was just the getaway was not good."
The start left the Brit clawing his way back through the field. He would eventually finish third, further losing ground on his championship-leading team mate in the battle for the title. But despite his woes, Hamilton was "generally happy" with his performance.
"Yeah it was really hard and when you've got all the turbulence of the cars in front of you, there's not really a lot I could do," he conceded. "And I didn't really have the pace of Kimi [Raikkonen], I knew I had to go longer than the guys in front so I wasn't trying to attack them early on in the race."
"And then the second half got a lot more interesting," he added. "I was able to put some real good times in and after that, generally happy with it."
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
462,879 comments on Mercedes
66 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Lewis Hamilton
600,297 comments on Mercedes 56 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Mercedes
Replies (0)
Login to reply