During the Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton raised concerns about a malfunctioning seat, adding to the challenges he faced with overheating in his W15 at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, has clarified that despite Hamilton’s complaints over the team radio, his seat was not broken.
Hamilton, a seven-time champion, conveyed the apparent seat issue to his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, during the race. However, upon closer inspection by the Mercedes team, it was determined that there was no fault with the seat.
Shovlin addressed the issue ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, revealing that the reported seat problem was non-existent. This clarification sheds light on the challenges faced by Hamilton during the Bahrain race, which included both the perceived seat malfunction and overheating concerns with his car.
Shovlin stated; “We obviously got the car back, checked the seat straight away, and the seat was fine.
“Now, the seats are obviously designed to be able to be lifted out because in the event of an accident, the driver comes out in his seat and ultimately, the thing that holds the seat in the car is the driver who’s strapped into his seat belts.
“The only thing we can think is that if Lewis was ever so slightly loose, he moved a bit and maybe the seat came up, had a little bit of motion, and dropped down again, because looking at it afterward, there’s no evidence that anything’s broken, that it was in the wrong position.
“But fundamentally that whilst it might be a bit uncomfortable for the driver if they’re not really rigidly located in the car, fundamentally a failure of the seat doesn’t mean that the driver can come loose out.
“So they’re always safe. But as I said, it looks like this was something very subtle that maybe there was a bit of motion, and then it settled down and was fine for the rest of the race.”
