“I wanted to win in Baku and it worked out, so ecstatic, can’t wait to go down and see everybody and big celebrations”, said Nico Rosberg who stretched his lead in this year’s world championship with a commanding win in Formula 1’s inaugural Grand Prix in Baku. Williams got into the points tally with Bottas running a good race in sixth place but it was the battle for 7th that really had everyone glued to their TV sets. The team started with something switched on, so I had it from the beginning.
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“Today would have added to the spectacle if I had full power because I would have been more in the race fighting with the guys up ahead. The last two were great”.
It seems the problem for Hamilton was with an engine setting on the auto, but F1 radio regs meant his team couldn’t tell him, and it seems to have taken until just 10 laps from the end for Hamilton to poke and prod all his buttons to change the erroneous setting.
Lewis Hamilton had a fairly woeful day at the Baku circuit, as the Brit started tenth on the grid and quickly rose to the fourth spot.
Rosberg had switched to the same engine setting as Hamilton during the race, and suffered the same problem, but was quickly told by the team that the mode was problematic and he should switch back to the original setting. The [radio] ban is there, so we all have to adapt. “I was expecting a couple too”, said Vettel.
Still at the top of the 2016 Driver Standings is Nico Rosberg with 141 points.
By contrast, Hamilton had been in the mode from the start of the race because he was going to have to pass people.
An exasperated Hamilton sought advice from engineer Pete Bonnington over team radio but, as per regulations introduced this year, they were unable to tell him how to correct the fault.
“It was risky”, he said.
“So it was just one switch change, but you need to find it out and if you are 350 in a vehicle and you’re playing around the steering wheel it’s a complex method”. I have said it before that I am happy at Force India, but for the future who knows what will happen. Have I done something wrong? The Red Bull Racing driver went further down the pack when he had to contended with pit stop traffic at around lap 28. Hamilton managed to work his way into contention for a podium position during the first stint of the race but seemed to lack pace after his first pitstop. Effectively the Energy Recovery System (ERS) was harvesting power on sections of the track where it should have been deploying extra electrical energy to the rear wheels.
Asked if he felt F1 should be “less computer and more man”, he said: “Definitely”.
“There is no point talking about the what ifs”.
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“It is what it is. Maybe the rule needs to be looked at again because it was a technical issue”.
