Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Mercedes identify cause of major issue in HUGE Azerbaijan Grand Prix boost

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes identify cause of major Hamilton issue in HUGE Azerbaijan GP boost

Lewis Hamilton will be looking for Mercedes to improve in Baku

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 12 September 2024 12:58

Mercedes have identified the cause of a major Lewis Hamilton issue in a huge boost for the star ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Despite winning two races this season at Silverstone and Spa, Hamilton has struggled to tap into his race winning form since the summer break.

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The seven-time world champion was knocked out of Q2 at the Dutch Grand Prix which significantly undid his weekend and his performance issues persisted into Monza.

Hamilton finished fifth during his last race for Mercedes at the Italian GP, and will be hoping similar struggles do not persist for Baku.

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The 39-year-old was frequently heard complaining about the heat of his seat over team radio, an issue that Mercedes have identified the cause of since.

In the team’s post Italy debrief, Mercedes' trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, revealed how they were fixing the issue and how it was being remedied for the Azerbaijan GP.

“The most significant cause was in Monza it was extremely hot,” Shovlin said.

“The seat in the car is always running extremely hot, there is a lot of heat generated by the power unit that you’re trying to dissipate.”

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“You’ve got a lot of electronic boxes and they are working quite hard and they generate their own temperature.

“So you’re trying to lose that out of the cockpit. You’ve also got a lot of straights at Monza and there is a few places where the plank is hitting the road and that in itself will generate temperature through friction and that will conduct up through the floor of the car.

“With the ambient temperature through the floor, nothing can be below that but you’ve also got numerous heat sources and it just pushes it up, the cockpit gets above the driver’s body temperature, then it’s hard for them to cool down and the heat builds.”

The team will be listening intently to Hamilton's radio as he takes to the track in Baku, hoping they have put this problem behind them.

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes FIA Adrian Newey Azerbaijan Grand Prix