F1 frontline

Lewis Hamilton departs Mercedes after a misfiring season. Is age the problem, or is it the cars themselves? MARK HUGHES reveals all

- MARK HUGHES

Lewis Hamilton’s last race for Mercedes after 84 grand prix victories and six world titles was a neat summation of his desultory last three seasons there. Quick in the practices at Abu Dhabi, he failed to get past the Q1 hurdle of qualifying after a bollard dislodged by a car in front of him became trapped under his car. He then staged a strong recovery to fourth in the race.

There have been tantalising glimpses of vintage Hamilton – none more so than in his record-busting ninth British Grand Prix victory – but his season cannot be considered as anything other than deeply disappointing. At times he has clearly been bewildered at his qualifying pace deficit to team-mate George Russell. Hamilton himself added to speculation in Qatar with his mischievous statement of, “I’m definitely no longer fast.”

Given that this is the same driver who was supremely fast at Silverstone and Spa and how talent doesn’t just switch off like that, a fuller explanation is required.

It’s about this generation of ground-effect cars. Running tiny ride heights front and rear, they do not pitch and dive anything like as much as previous generations of cars. This is really bad news for any driver who relies on pitch to help rotate the car into slow corners. Which, together with his braking, has always been Hamilton’s core skill. He would use the weight transfer of late heavy braking to load up the front tyres, begin the turn-in early, then as he released the brakes into the turn the front would respond super-positively, with the rear coming round just enough to give him a neutral balance early in the corner.