According to 41-year-old Danica Patrick, Lewis Hamilton should simply accept the disqualification in Austin, like Charles Leclerc does. The seven-time champion stated that little performance was achieved from the lower ride height in Austin, but the former Sky Sports F1 driver dismisses that argument.
The cars of Leclerc and Hamilton, like those of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, were extensively checked after the United States Grand Prix. It turned out that the skid blocks had worn too far and, according to the seven-time champion, it had to do with the design of the sprint weekend. As a result, he said, there was not enough time to anticipate these types of problems. The teams want to set their cars as low as possible, because that simply saves the most time. Yet Hamilton felt in Mexico that it delivered absolutely no performance gains.
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‘He was trying to save face’
The Briton indicated that the skid blocks are not elements from which time savings can be made. Yet Patrick questions this, because there are rules for this. “You were illegal and you’re out of the race. It felt like Lewis was trying to build a case and save a bit of face. In the end he said it doesn’t make a difference, but of course it does. That’s why the rule is there, because lowering the car always generally makes it faster.”
It certainly makes a difference
The cart height is generally one of the elements to save more time and Patrick endorses this. “It’s one of the most powerful ways to give the car more grip, so I think it does make a difference.” Yet Patrick does not point to bad intentions either. In her opinion, the design of the sprint weekend was the basis for this. “There was only one practice and there was a lot of parc fermé, so they couldn’t change the car and maybe they gambled, maybe they didn’t know.”
2023-10-28 09:56:06
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