Lewis Hamilton has offered ‘a million dollar’ reward when reflecting on the many problems he faced with his Mercedes car following the team’s Brazilian Grand Prix horror show.
The seven-time Formula 1 champion suffered a torrid weekend, only able to finish 11th in the sprint race, before finishing the main race down in 10th after another poor qualifying.
Usually a master under wet conditions, Hamilton struggled greatly in qualifying, not for the first time this season, being knocked out in Q1 and starting the race down in 14th.
While the Brit had a good start to the race which saw him progress up to P10 by the end of the first lap, Hamilton suffered an error-strewn Sunday which meant he failed to improve on that position, taking home just a single point from the Interlagos weekend in which a maximum of 34 were available.
Hamilton has now dropped below team-mate George Russell in the drivers’ championship, despite having a 25-point head start on his fellow Brit due to Russell being disqualified from a race that was inherited by Hamilton in Belgium.
The 39-year-old is also 16-5 down to Russell in qualifying, a daunting statistic considering Hamilton will be up against arguably the best qualifier on the grid in Charles Leclerc at Ferrari next season.The British star has been attempting to sign off his hugely successful 12 seasons at Mercedes in style, but a DNF at the US GP, and the poor results last weekend mean he has taken just 26 points from his last five races.Both Hamilton and Russell have suffered with performance inconsistencies all season-long, with the W15 guiding the pair to three wins in four races during the summer, but more often than not looking like the fourth-fastest car on the grid at best.
Now, Hamilton has voiced his frustrations about the inconsistencies, even asking the media to investigate the problems themselves.”You tell me,” he told a reporter after the race when queried by the media over what the problem is with his Mercedes machinery.”That’s the million-dollar question. If you can find it [the problem], I’ll give you a million dollars.”
