Lewis Hamilton talks about wheelspin in initial start and high brake temperature on first standing re-start in F1 Tuscan GP as he feels unreal closing in on Michael Schumacher’s win record.
The initial launch for Hamilton wasn’t great in F1 Tuscan GP at Mugello, as even for a brief moment, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen got the better of him, until his power issues creep in. The Brit remained second behind teammate Valtteri Bottas, then.
He was beaten on the safety car re-start as well after the Lap 1 incident, but red flag saved the day. With the first standing re-start set, Hamilton, this time managed to get the better of Bottas and took the race lead at the Turn 1 right-hander.
There was a scare, though, for Hamilton on that re-start, with smoke blowing out from his front brakes, which he stated it happened because he was trying to balance heat. That was short-lived as the Brit settled in and survived the second re-start to secure the win.
“So the first one, well, every situation is different so I just went too deep and got wheelspin, wasn’t very good reaction, so Valtteri beat us off there on initial start,” said Hamilton. “The second one, I basically had on the formation lap..I had a separation of my front brake temperatures by nearly two hundred degrees.
“So, I was pushing them very hard to bring the one that was down equal, and I got them up to a thousand degrees and I tried to cool them through the last corner and all the way to the start and I got to the grid and there was a lot of smoke coming and I was definitely worried.
“I think I saw a flame at one stage which is not good, because that burns all the interior of what is in the upright so fortunately the start was… got under way relatively quickly and I didn’t have a problem from there on but it was definitely on the limit.”
The win for Hamilton was 90th of his F1 career and if he does so the same in Russian GP, he will match Schumacher’s all-time record of 91. In fact, if he wins the Eifel GP, he can surpass the German’s record at one of the his home event at Nurburging.
“It just doesn’t seem real,” said Hamilton. “Obviously it’s ultimately a privilege to be in a position and have such a great team and a car to be able to deliver weekend in, weekend out but I just feel forever grateful to the people that continue to work hard.
“I’m just a link in the chain but getting the wins is not easy when you have a great driver in Valtteri pushing you the limit, weekend in, weekend out. But I never thought that I would be here, that’s for sure,” summed up Hamilton.
Apart from the on-track talks, off it, Hamilton could be facing investigation for his special t-shirt that he wore after winning the Tuscan GP on the podium, which stated ‘Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor’ on the front and had ‘Say her name’ on the back.
It is related to a woman being killed by the cops at her home in the USA. While, nothing so far has been publicly released, but multiple reports – including from BBC and Sky Sports – noted that the FIA is looking into the message. Although, the governing could also be looking to see what t-shirt can be wore as it doesn’t feature in regulations.
Speaking about it post-race, Hamilton stated: “It’s still fighting the same. It took me a long time to get that shirt and I’ve been wanting to wear that and bring awareness to the fact that there’s people that have been killed on the street and there’s someone that got killed in her own house, and they’re in the wrong house, and those guys are still walking free and we can’t rest.
“We have to continue to raise awareness with it and Naomi has been doing amazing, so huge congratulations to here, and I think she’s an incredible inspiration with what she’s done with her platform. I think we just have to continue to push on the issue.”
Looking at the International Sporting Code laid down by the FIA, only Article 10 talks about anything related to politics and religion under ‘Advertising on Automobiles’ – but the catch is that, it relates to mostly cars and not drivers in specific.
The article states:
- 10.6.1 Advertising on Automobiles is free, subject to the conditions laid down in the Code.
- 10.6.2 Competitors taking part in International Competitions are not allowed to affix to their Automobiles advertising that is political or religious in nature or that is prejudicial to the interests of the FIA.
- 10.6.3.a The ASNs must specify the special conditions applicable to the Competitions organised under their control.
- 10.6.3.b The Supplementary Regulations of a Competition must mention these special conditions as well as any legal or administrative regulations in force in the country of the Competition.
Looking outside the International Sporting Code, the FIA Statutes has similar mention of the political and religious situation along with other points. The Article 1.2 of it states:
1.2 The FIA shall refrain from manifesting discriminationon account of race, skin colour, gender, sexualorientation, ethnic or social origin, language, religion, philosophical or political opinion, family situation or disability in the course of its activities and from taking any action in this respect.
Hamilton, as usual, received flak for bringing out the message, which Mercedes social media team responded to with, “we’re not bringing politics into F1, these are human rights issues that we are trying to highlight and raise awareness of. There’s a big difference.”
Here’s how F1 Tuscan GP panned out
Here’s Mick Schumacher driving the F2004