Mercedes Absolves Carlos Sainz of Blame for Heartbreaking Lewis Hamilton Season Finale

Lewis Hamilton bowed out of the final race in Abu Dhabi in the 56th lap. The car suffered from a hydraulics failure which saw the team retire the car in the final stages of the race. Earlier it was believed the failure happened because of the damage the car took in the first lap while Hamilton was battling Carlos Sainz. Mercedes’ James Vowles however recently revealed the two incidents had nothing to do with each other.

Carlos Sainz found a better grip as the race started and challenged Lewis Hamilton for his place. As he made a lunge, the Mercedes driver was pushed off the track and bounced hard off of a chicane. Lewis constantly complained of a suspected broken floor on the team radio as the race progressed.

Is it fair to blame Carlos Sainz for Lewis Hamilton’s Abu Dhabi DNF?

Lewis Hamilton struggled throughout the race with tire grip and power loss issues. Eventually, he was called in to retire the car, ending his race in another heartbreak in Abu Dhabi. The team’s Motorsport Strategy Director James Vowles recently did a race debrief where he revealed whether the damage taken during the first lap incident with Carlos Sainz was behind Lewis’ hydraulics failure.

“Short answer, no. There was actually surprisingly little damage from that first lap incident. The bib, the area under the car, did take a massive impact as a result of it and that won’t be good. The front wing end plate again had a snock, but generally speaking, it was fine aerodynamically. What happened at the end of the race is actually a loss of hydraulics pressure and it had no relation or no bearing to that first lap incident,” Vowles revealed.

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This was the first time when Hamilton could not score a single win in an entire season. To make matters worse, his young teammate George Russell not only scored his maiden win but also beat him in the final points tally.

Has Lewis Hamilton lost his magical touch?

As the season concluded, George Russell finished the season in 4th in the drivers’ standings with 275 points. In comparison, Lewis Hamilton could only score 240 points and finished in 6th. The result had fans wondering if the 7-time world champion had his best years behind him now.

Team principal Toto Wolff however, recently came to the rescue of his champion driver. He said, “Lewis has been really, really good because you expect a world champion, who has had the title taken away from him, to just come in and smash everybody. But we didn’t give him the car to do that.”

Toto hailed Lewis’ attitude in the briefing room and how he lifted everyone up despite having a bad season.

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Do you think Mercedes will build a car to match Lewis’ abilities next season? Will he beat his young and energetic teammate to the points tally?