Lewis Hamilton hit out at his Mercedes engineers after the team made a vital error ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Mercedes had wheeled Hamilton out of the garage in a bid to get on track for some practice starts.
However, the team missed the cut off with red lights flashing at the end of the pit lane before Hamilton could leave. His race engineer, Peter Bonnington, realised the team had made the mistake before Hamilton could pull away.
He said: “I think this will probably go red on exit. This will probably go red on exit. Keep an eye on it. We’ll come and get you.” Hamilton was evidently frustrated, repying: “Come on guys! This is twice now!”
This meant Hamilton missed his final chance to get some start practice ahead of tomorrow’s season-opening race. Sky Sports F1 host Anthony Davidson pointed his finger at Mercedes for the error and revealed they got their timings mixed up.
READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton undergoes lie detector test and admits urinating in car
Hamilton was P4 in FP3, three-tenths down on Alonso’s best and two-tenths behind Verstappen. However, teammate George Russell struggled and fell to P6, behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton admitted the German manufacturer was a “long way off” the pace after the first two practice sessions on Friday and he accepted the team may even be “a bit further behind” than they were in 2022.
He commented: “We found out we are a long way off,” said Hamilton, who was six-tenths off Alonso’s best time in P2. “We kind of knew that a little bit in the test but it is a big gap.
“With Red Bull, looking at the long runs, they are a second a lap faster so we have got a lot to work on.”
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