Part of Hamilton's bad luck erased according to Wolff

By winning the Mexican Grand Prix ahead of Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton keeps his chances in the championship intact by coming back to 19 points behind his teammate before the last two events of the season in Brazil and then in Abu Dhabi.

However, the adventures of the first turn almost disrupted the progress of the driver's test Mercedes. Starting from pole position, the three-time world champion shot straight into the first corner after locking his wheel under braking.

“The right front brake disc froze up on the formation lap and I couldn't reverse the trend, specified the former pilot McLaren. I thought maybe it would be good – but when I hit the brakes it stuck and I shot straight into the grass.

I was lucky enough to cross and reach the other side of the track. I had a flat tire, and I'm talking a major one. I could barely see the end of each straight line with the vibrations and I really didn't know if my suspension was going to hold up. I'm really lucky I didn't destroy the tire or have to come in for an early stop. »

The incident at the first corner also caused cold sweats on the Mercedes pit wall, where the decision whether or not to stop Hamilton was the subject of intense debate.

Paddy Lowe, executive director in charge of technique, particularly remembered the precedent of Kimi Räikkönen with McLaren in 2005, where the Finn drove for 20 laps with a significant vibration at the Nürburgring, before seeing his suspension give way in preparation for the finish. and a possible victory.

“In a normal race we would have stopped him due to the risk of tire failure or maybe worse, but of course today the stop would have cost him the championship, Explain Toto wolff, boss of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

We had a long debate with the engineers, balancing the positive and negative aspects of the decision, and we were monitoring the numbers at every turn. In the end, some of Lewis' bad luck this year was erased today by going through this situation. »

Discover the analysis of the Mexican Grand Prix in issue 2087 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Thursday on newsstands.