Lewis Hamilton Had A Hydraulics Problem in Canada That Threatened His Race

It wasn’t an easy win for Lewis Hamilton, back in Canada, a contest that brought about his fifth win of the season, and Mercedes’ seventh overall in as many races.

The 2019 Canadian Grand Prix was a memorable contest, albeit one marked with arguably 2019’s biggest controversy. The five-second penalty attributed to Vettel’s controversial move in the closing stages saw the German lose out on what could’ve been a huge win.

At the end of the day, the equation at Montreal read pretty much in a straightforward way: error by Vettel meant advantage, Hamilton.

But while Lewis Hamilton got his fifth win of the season, and yet another one at Canada, a track where he’s succeeded quite comprehensively akin to his victories at Silverstone and Suzuka in the past, it occurs that the win may not have been that easy.

So what had gone wrong with Lewis in the 70-lap contest? Well, here’s what one needs to know, especially those who think that the win for the Briton was fundamentally only down to the penalty attributed to the Ferrari driver.

Apparently, it turns out that right before the start of the 2019 Canadian GP, Lewis Hamilton’s team had to take out his fledgeling power unit, only for them to trace the ‘leak’ to the throttle actuator of his Mercedes car.

Elaborating on the main issue with his car, his team added, “We had some issues with Lewis’s car before the race and this actually became apparent after qualifying,” he says. “We dropped the floor and noticed there was some oil on the floor, so somewhere there was a leak. We could also see on the data we were losing some hydraulic pressure. The issue is that the cars are then in parc ferme overnight,” he continues, “so we are not allowed to touch them or to investigate further. So, that investigation moved to Sunday morning, when we are allowed to access the cars again, and the mechanics can work on them.”