Hamilton bemoans 'BROKEN' Mercedes in Bahrain Grand Prix struggles

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton seemingly appeared to have an unusual problem with his Mercedes car during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Approaching half distance, the 39-year-old complained over the radio that his seat was 'broken', while running down in eighth.

It summed up what had been a pretty troublesome opening few laps for the Mercedes team, with George Russell losing a position and both drivers complaining of overheating issues with their cars.

Hamilton has been running with a new seat position in his Mercedes W15 car, and had been quite optimistic about how he felt in the car, despite qualifying ninth on Friday.

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Mercedes' nightmare start to 2024

Hamilton was hoping for what he believed would be a 'fun' race, with Mercedes sacrificing one-lap speed for an overall better race car, having achieved a one-two in FP2 on Thursday.

Russell, meanwhile, would have been expecting to challenge for a podium position having started in third, but couldn't keep up with the likes of Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez.

That made for a pretty miserable start to the season-opening Bahrain GP for Mercedes' new W15, then, with Hamilton clearly not happy with what will be his final Mercedes car.

Hamilton did manage to move up a spot and finish in seventh, despite his broken seat issues, while Russell came home in fifth.

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