Lewis Hamilton rages as team refuse to explain technical issue

Updated 19/06/2016 at 14:58 GMT

Lewis Hamilton's attempt to climb up the field from 10th on the grid was undermined when his car was put into the wrong mode during the European Grand Prix in Baku.

Lewis Hamilton drives in the European Grand Prix in Baku

Image credit: Reuters

While Hamilton fumbled around to find the solution, he grew increasingly frustrated with his team who were unable to explain the issue due to restrictions on radio communication.

The situation led to the following back-and-forth between driver and team:

LH: "This is ridiculous guys, I don't know. I'm looking at my frickin' dash every five seconds trying to find a switch in the wrong position. I've not changed anything or done anything wrong that I'm aware of."
Team: "There is nothing you are doing wrong, just a setting that is incorrect."
LH: "In HTB?"
Team: "I'm afraid I can't say."
LH: "I might not finish this race as I'm going to try and change everything."
Team: "We do not advise that Lewis."
LH: "Can I make suggestions and you say if it's OK or not?"
Team: "No, that's not allowed. Let's just got our heads down and focus on the job."

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Meanwhile, anyone with a link to Mercedes' Twitter account knew exactly what the problem was as the team tweeted: "Lewis Hamilton experiencing de-rates (lower than maximum electrical deployment)."

The situation eventually resolved itself, with Hamilton remarking: "Thank f*** man, I have power back."

It was an embarrassing incident for Hamilton, just three days after he compared the team's race simulator to "a very bad computer game".

He said: "I don't do a lot of time in simulators. When I was at McLaren we did way too much. I could spend a few hundred quid on a PlayStation and learn the same amount."

“You don’t feel the speed or the physicality of it. It’s a very bad computer game basically. It doesn’t say much.”

Mercedes chief Niki Lauda confirmed both the team's drivers experienced the same issue, but Rosberg "fixed it quicker".

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