McLaren: pit problem cost Hamilton podium
McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh is convinced the problems during his first pitstop cost Lewis Hamilton a place on the podium in Malaysia
Hamilton pitted when running in fifth place, but a problem with the right front tyre delayed him ten seconds, which relegated him down to 11th position.
The British driver went on to finish in fifth place, but Whitmarsh reckons he was set for a top three finish.
"It cost him two things: 10 seconds at the stop and then track position, he was stuck behind Webber so it did cost him a podium position, yes," Whitmarsh said.
Whitmarsh said the team were analysing the problem.
"It appears the wheel nut locking mechanism failed so that when the gunman went to get the wheel nut off it wouldn't come off because of the mechanism," explained Whitmarsh.
"In the end he did a fantastic job because he switched to a different gun and had to take the hubcab off with the spare gun and the second gun probably sheared the two locking pins which allowed him to get it off.
"It's early days and we haven' got the car bits back but it appears to be a problem within the axle and the locking mechanism. It hadn't happened before.
"Clearly, it's a different locking mechanism because of the hubcabs but it hadn't happened before.
Despite the problems, Hamilton is still leading the championship with 14 points, three ahead of race winner Kimi Raikkonen.
Share Or Save This Story
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Jon Noble: An unfair perception or a genuine concern? Lifting the lid on Red Bull’s Tsunoda scepticism
Hamilton details neck injury that affected start of 2025 F1 season
Ferrari says winning Barcelona GP means less in F1 2026 – is that true?
Why Hamilton's race engineer bond shows F1 is a people's sport first
From simulator to stopwatch: The creative evidence teams have used to dispute F1 race results
Is there a 'fair' way to undo the Monaco penalties madness?
Notebooks and no-nonsense: How "very interesting" Fornaroli impressed Stella in Barcelona
WRC Acropolis Rally Greece: Ogier sets early pace with super special stage win
“Maybe it is even worse”: MotoGP riders split over holeshot device ban
How crucial is Red Bull's Austrian GP upgrade for Verstappen's F1 future?
Hamilton details neck injury that affected start of 2025 F1 season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments