Lewis Hamilton has resigned from the Australian Fabulous Prix subsequent to halting with an obvious motor disappointment on his Mercedes W15.
Hamilton was seen easing back on the back straight after only 16 laps at Albert Park, detailing an “motor disappointment” over group radio prior to stopping up along the edge of the track. The reliability issue occurred after Hamilton pitted early after starting on soft tires.
Before the race even started, the seven-time World Champion had questioned Mercedes’ decision to start him on red-striped tires over the radio.
Hamilton’s stoppage made him the second retirement of the day in Melbourne after Max Verstappen halted with a back break issue on his Red Bull RB20, finishing the prevailing Title holder’s expectations of matching his own record of 10 straight wins.
A first DNF of the time set the limit for a hopeless end of the week for Hamilton, who qualified a far off eleventh in the wake of being taken out of Q2 on Saturday.
With Mercedes battling with the W15 in the beginning phases of this season, Hamilton remarked that the vehicle’s irregularity “truly screws with the psyche.”
Those comments came after Hamilton completed eighteenth out of 19 sprinters in FP2, with the 39-year-old conceding after Friday practice that his certainty with the vehicle was at absolute bottom. “I obviously don’t feel great,” he stated.
“We had quite possibly of the most terrible meeting I’ve likely had for quite a while. “FP1 generally felt good; the car in FP1, run one, actually felt the best it had ever felt; however, it just kept getting worse.” In FP2, we made significant changes that were challenging.
“After that meeting, I feel the most un-certain I’ve at any point felt with this vehicle. “Yet, there are up-sides from that [like] that FP1 run that we did.”