Hamilton: A box too short?

According to David Coulthard, victory in the Spanish GP may have eluded Lewis Hamilton because of a gearbox that was too short for the long pit straight.

Published on 24/05/2011 à 12:50

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Lewis Hamilton came back to Sebastian Vettel, but he did not manage to gain the upper hand over the pilot Red Bull, even if he followed the pace of the winner. The pilot McLaren could not overtake the German?s RB7, despite the leader?s faulty SREC and the DRS activated for the MP4-26.

David Coulthard thinks Lewis Hamilton suffered from a gearbox that was too short. “ McLaren may have shot itself in the foot by not giving Lewis a long enough box », notes the former Red Bull driver in the Telegraph. “ He was on the verge of breaking most of the straight and perhaps could have overtaken Sebastian by fully exploiting his 7th gear »

But the former pilot of F1 does not, however, criticize the set-up chosen by McLaren. “ It was not necessarily an error of judgment. Adjusting the gearbox is always a matter of compromise. When you qualify with 10kg of fuel and soft tires and then race with a 160kg full tank and partially worn tires, you can't be perfect in both situations. »