Lewis Hamilton’s weekend has went from bad to worse after failing to record a lap time in qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit. Mercedes will be at both end of the grid, with Hamilton starting at the rear while his teammate has the pole position.
Hamilton’s starting position was already going to be limited, having been handed a five-place grid penalty by the FIA for a gearbox change as a result of some damage sustained during the Bahrain Grand Prix. This meant that he would have only been able to start from P6 on the grid at maximum, giving him a disadvantage over the main competition.
Things worsened for the Brit in qualifying though, as he was booted from the first qualifying session, having set no lap times. This failure was due to a MGU-H issue that locked him in the garage after only a single untimed out lap.
Lewis Hamilton was disappointed by the failure, but still confident about what he could do in the race:
“The best thing we can do is learn from it and move on. I’m sure the guys are just as gutted as I am – but what will be, will be. We win and lose together, so we’ll work hard to figure out what happened and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The positive news is that you can overtake here and the car is quick, so hopefully we can get it fixed for tomorrow and have a good race. I’ve been in this position before. I came from the back of the grid to the podium in Hungary two years ago, so anything is possible. The tyres don’t last as well here, so it’s perhaps not as simple as it was in that race. But, of course, I’ll give it everything I’ve got to try to get back up as far as I can. We’ll at least get into the points and then I’ll see what I can do from there. It’s never over until it’s over…”
The MGU-H is one of the two motor generator units in the energy recovery system of a Formula One car. The MGU-H is a part of the turbocharger that converts the heat from the exhaust gases into electrical energy that can be used to power the MGU-K, the motor generator unit that converts kinetic energy from braking into electrical energy which is used to power the car. The MGU-H is also responsible for controlling the speed of the turbocharger to prevent turbo lag.
Hamilton will start behind Pascal Wehrlein, who also failed to set a time in qualifying. Wehrlein spun his Manor and damaged the car on the Armco barrier when he hydroplaned on a hidden water puddle on the main straight. Much like the Mercedes, the Manor disappeared into the garage for the remainder of the day.
Both drivers failed the 107% qualifying rule which states that every driver must set a timed lap in the first qualifying session that does not exceed 107% of the fastest time in that session. However, the stewards have allowed them to race, which is just a formality since no car has been forced sit out of the race because of this regulation since HRT in the 2012 Australian Grand Prix.
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