Mercedes found “broken part” on Lewis Hamilton’s car as key weakness pinpointed

During the Formula One United States Grand Prix on Saturday, Mercedes discovered a “broken part” on Lewis Hamilton’s front suspension.

Before qualifying, but after the sprint race, the finding was made.

Hamilton had a dismal qualifying day in Texas, finishing in 19th place—his lowest placing in seven years.

In the sprint race, Hamilton had previously placed sixth, one spot behind George Russell.

Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, stated: “This was a difficult Saturday following a positive Friday. Early in the sprint, it was clear that we were not as fast as our rivals.

“We applied a lot of pressure to stay up with the leaders, which increased the force applied to the tires.”

We were severely impacted by overheating throughout the second half of the race, just managing to secure P5 and P6.

Additionally, after the sprint, we discovered a broken component on Lewis’ front suspension, which undoubtedly affected the overall balance.

Before qualifying, we made a few setup changes to try to get the vehicle back to where it was on Friday. Sadly, these didn’t produce the expected results.

“Lewis was unfortunate to be knocked out in Q1 after being impacted by traffic in sector one, but a consistent balance remained elusive.”

Russell will start the grand prix from sixth after crashing in qualifying, but more importantly, Mercedes will be puzzled about what to do with the damaged modifications on Russell’s car.

George did significantly better and turned a solid lap in qualifying, but he got trapped at turn 12 after a lockup, and he eventually crashed off at turn 19.

“We’re overworked.”

Toto Wolff, the principal of the Mercedes team, said: “A difficult and disappointing day. We were expecting a solid performance after a great Friday, but it was evident early in the sprint that we couldn’t keep up with our closest rivals, and we had to drop back to finish a long way behind P5 and P6.

“In addition, neither driver had the same handling balance as the day before, and they were having trouble with their tires overheating—Lewis on the back axle and George on the front.

“In an attempt to address this before qualifying, we made some setup adjustments, but we were still unable to reach the same level of performance as we had on Friday, with Lewis placing P19 and George placing P6 but unable to finish his last flying lap.

“This Sunday’s]

“With Lewis starting P19, the race will be about limiting damage: we need things to go in our favor to fight for meaningful points, which will be difficult.”

Hamilton remarked, “It was a difficult day. We had a challenging sprint since the vehicle didn’t feel as strong as it did [on Friday].

It didn’t seem to fit us that it was warmer today than it was on Friday.

“We tried to counter that and move us in a direction that may get the vehicle closer to how it felt on Friday, so we made some adjustments before qualifying, but we were still having trouble.

“We’re going to have a tough Sunday beginning P19. It will be challenging to find.

“Hopefully, on Sunday, the car will be in a better position, as it struggled with inconsistent balance and lack of grip on Saturday.”

“[On Friday] we were fighting for P1 in Sprint Qualifying, but [on Saturday] we were really having trouble,” Russell continued.

How our fortunes have shifted so drastically day by day is perplexing.

“It’s evident that we can compete for pole positions and race victories once we figure out where this car excels. We fall to the rear of the lead group when we don’t.

“I started the sprint off losing a spot, so I worked really hard to get it back.

Sadly, that’s when we began to have tire problems.

“We had a great pace on Friday, especially in the long run, so it was hard to understand.” We were still having trouble in qualifying, even though I looked powerful on my last lap before I locked up in turn 12.

“I think I overpushed into turn 19 to make up for that delay, which caused me to lose the rear end of the vehicle.” I regret the harm I did to the vehicle and the extra work that will need to be done overnight to fix it.”