Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes W13 suffered a 45G impact at the last Belgian GP. The English driver had a touch with Fernando Alonso on the first lap of the race that caused him to go up in the air. Upon landing, the car hit the ground violently.
Hamilton suffered a sudden loss of pressure in the cooling circuit after, and was soon told from the garage to stop the car to retire from the race.
The blow also triggered the FIA light alert that requires the pilot to visit the medical center. Hamilton, who initially refused to go, received a warning from the stewards.
As previously reported, its power unit was returned to Mercedes ‘ Brixworth facility, where it is still undergoing examination. Hamilton was making his V6 debut at Spa, and if it can no longer be used, he will have to take a fourth car and therefore receive a grid penalty at a future race .
In addition, the gearbox mount has cracks and the internal components are also being examined.
“It was a big, big impact,” Mercedes chief strategy officer James Vowles said in a team video. “The car’s SDR sensor registered 45G, which is very large in a vertical impact.”
“He will be fine, he will fight again at Zandvoort,” he added. “I think he’s frustrated, because he had a very fast car and it was possible to get on the podium. But he and all of us are here to fight and keep moving forward.”
Vowles pointed out that in addition to the power unit and gearbox, other elements of the car are being reviewed.
“There are quite a few photos circulating on the internet showing the height of the car and how it landed, and the impact was big.”
“What we noticed almost immediately after the impact on the ground was a loss of coolant. In fact, you can see on Alonso’s onboard that the coolant was flying towards him, and then the temperature rose quite quickly. That was the reason. main to stop him on the track.
“Now we will need a few days to go through all the components. It is clear that there are going to be overloads on the suspension and gearbox components, and we need to make sure we understand everything that is needed before Zandvoort.”
On the other hand, Vowles also indicated that Mercedes matched Ferrari ‘s race pace in Belgium, having lapped a second behind in qualifying.
“The approach and the philosophy of what is being done, in terms of prioritizing race pace or qualifying pace, I think may be different between the two teams,” he said.
“Obviously the distances are great, they are much vaster than what we are used to seeing. Normally you would expect a tenth or two, not a second.”
“What I can say is that we are beating them on degradation in the race. So part of it could be just how the tires are being used and the performance of the car, and the other part is degradation.
“The approach we have is one that is adding points race by race. However, it is clear that we have to improve our position in the standings, because it is not only in relation to Ferrari, we are also racing McLaren and Alpine .”
“And to be racing at the front, to get our first win this season, we have to make sure we improve in qualifying. season, and we will continue to do so.
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