How Hamilton's heated exchange with his race engineer played out in Baku

19 June 2016 06:23

Lewis Hamilton was involved in a series of heated radio exchanges with his Mercedes team during Sunday's European Grand Prix.

Hamilton was in the wrong engine setting - pre-determined by Mercedes before the race - which contributed to him losing time to his rivals at Azerbaijan's Baku Street Circuit.

While Mercedes were able to immediately pinpoint what was wrong with Hamilton's car, they were unable to tell the Briton how to fix it on his complex steering wheel due to the sport's restrictive radio rules.

The issue curtailed Hamilton's performance and he finished only fifth, while his title rival Nico Rosberg cruised to victory to open up a 24-point lead over his Mercedes team-mate.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at Hamilton's radio messages, with his race engineer Pete Bonnington, as he attempted to resolve the issue.

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Hamilton: "Is there no solution?"

Mercedes: "We're working on it."

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Hamilton: "You guys need to pick up the pace."

Mercedes: "The problem appears to be with the current mode that you are in."

Hamilton: "I don't know what you mean. I don't know what's wrong."

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Hamilton: "This is ridiculous, guys. I don't know, I'm looking at my fricking dash every five seconds trying to find the switch in the wrong position."

Mercedes: "Lewis, it's nothing you're doing wrong, just got a setting that's incorrect."

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Hamilton: "I might not finish the race, I'm going to try and change everything."

Mercedes: "We don't advise that, Lewis."

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Hamilton: "Can I make suggestions and you tell me if that's okay?"

Mercedes: "Nope, that's not allowed."

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Hamilton: "Thank f***, man. I got my power back!"

Source: PA