Revealed: Hamilton almost retired from Brazil GP
Revealed: Hamilton almost retired from Brazil GP
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed that Lewis Hamilton was perilously close to suffering an engine failure as he rounded out victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Hamilton benefitted from Max Verstappen's crash with Esteban Ocon to take his first victory after winning a title mid-season.
Hamilton qualified on pole, but the Silver Arrows were largely helpless as Verstappen stormed through the field and took to a second stint on quicker tyres than the Brit – allowing him to take the lead near the halfway point.
Although things came back Mercedes' way when the Red Bull spun, Hamilton revealed that he begun to feel something troubling brewing underneath him as the win neared.
Hamilton said: "I have been driving this engine since the beginning of the year and I know all about it and how it feels and pretty much every note I know like the back of my hand.
"So when I started to feel it was not operating at its normal harmony -- for me I cannot allow any negative thought getting into my mind, so I just stay focused on trying to do less full throttle lifting and going as easy as I can on the engine."
P1 ???? A weekend to remember ???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/S7BrH5tT2i — Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) November 11, 2018
And Wolff revealed just how critical the situation was for the 2018 champion, whose victory helped Mercedes wrap up their fifth consecutive constructors' title.
"We have the engine guys here at the track and then we have them back at base, and what I could hear - because I have about 10 radio channels open - on one of the 10 channels, the meeting channel, was 'Lewis Hamilton power unit failure imminent, it's going to fail within the next lap'.
"I put the volume up and I was like 'Excuse me, what?' And they said 'Yeah we've got a massive problem on the power unit, it's going to fail next lap'. It didn't fail next lap and I said 'When you guys have a minute, tell me what's happening". So I let them work.
"And they said 'Well our exhaust is just about to fail and we're overshooting all the temperature limits'.
"So I said 'What's the fix?' And they started to fix it by turning the whole thing down. The temperatures went down to below 1000C, to 980C, but it's still too high, and then he recovered another lap and that was truly horrible."
MORE: Verstappen loses Brazil win to Hamilton after Ocon crash
MORE: Why Hamilton's Sirotkin block was not punished
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Schumacher reveals what F1 pundits are NOT allowed to say about Red Bull
- 52 minutes ago
Hamilton struggles pinned on Mercedes by team's OWN driver
- 1 hour ago
Verstappen issues MAYHEM warning to F1 bosses
- 2 hours ago
Ferrari announce HUGE F1 change to iconic red livery
- 3 hours ago
F1 News Today: Hamilton and Verstappen rivalry takes SHOCK twist as F1 team 'set to announce' mega signing
- Today 05:57
Horner Red Bull saga in new 'evidence' update as big F1 star left 'very angry' - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860