F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Hamilton keen to be part of problem-solving process at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton says he wants to be involved in Mercedes’ problem-solving process after experiencing another troubled race weekend in Russia.

The triple world champion was hit by a ERS issue similar to the one he suffered at the previous round in Shanghai, which prevented him from taking part in the final phase of qualifying and forced him to line up 10th on the Sochi grid.

Although he managed to recover to second, Hamilton’s charge was hampered when his W07 picked up a water leak in the second half of the race.

The Briton was quick to dismiss the sabotage claims made by his fans on social media, but he also made a couple of bizarre comments regarding what had happened (or actually not happened) following the Chinese Grand Prix.

“There are things which we’re trying to understand and I’ve asked to be informed of what’s going on, process or whatever.” Hamilton said. “For example, after the last race [in China], I didn’t get an email of the report so I didn’t actually know about that and when I got [in Russia] they said ‘we should have emailed you’.

“Next week I'll get all the information, and if it's not sent to me, I'll make sure I'll get it. Just because I want to be a part of the process, and there's a lot of input I can have, and help. Ultimately we're a team. We win and we lose together, so it's about us pulling together.”

Not sure Hamilton’s puzzling remarks will help appease conspiracy theorists, whom Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff called “lunatics” who are “lying in their bed with their laptop on their chest and sending out those abusive messages out” in the aftermath of the Sochi race.

FEATURE: Hamilton, or when a picture is not worth so many words

DRIVER RATINGS: Russian Grand Prix

Breakfast with ... Martin Brundle

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook a

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Horner weighs in on explosive 2026 F1 engine controversy

Christian Horner has waded into Formula 1’s latest technical storm, addressing the growing controversy over…

53 mins ago

Newey: AI has been shaping F1 ‘for a long time’

Aston Martin’s chief architect and team principal Adrian Newey believes Formula 1’s latest buzzword is…

2 hours ago

Norris gets a pole-position welcome at old primary school

Fresh from pre-season testing and with a world title now stitched onto his racing overalls,…

4 hours ago

Two on the trot for Laffite and Ligier in Brazil

On this day in 1979, Jacques Laffite won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos as…

5 hours ago

Russell hungry for ‘head-to-head’ title clash with Verstappen

George Russell is not hiding his appetite for a showdown this season in F1. In…

6 hours ago

Vowles confident Williams won’t start F1 season ‘on the back foot’

Williams may have missed the first public glimpse of Formula 1’s bold new era, but…

7 hours ago