“Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton’s penultimate grand prix as a Mercedes driver was a miserable affair.

He asked to retire his car after falling to the back of the field. Although he took the chequered flag he finished out of the points in 12th place.

Throughout the race Hamilton again grappled with the balance of his W15 and was dismayed to learn how much slower he was lapping than the leaders early on. But what really did for his chances was a pair of penalties: One for jumping the start and another for speeding in the pits.

Here’s his perspective on how the Qatar Grand Prix unfolded, shown through a selection of significant radio exchanges between him and race engineer Peter Bonnington.

Hamilton’s Qatar Grand Prix radio

“Sorry about that, guys”
“Very high pace”
“Where is a second then, mate?”
“Tyres still holding on”
“The double yellow keeps flashing up”
“Just trust me to have this luck”
“Am I dead last now, yeah?”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with this car”
“We can now retire the car”

“Sorry about that, guys”

Hamilton’s race got off to a bad start immediately as he began to creep away from the line before the five lights were extinguished. He appeared to realise immediately that a penalty was inevitable.

“Very high pace”

As the race restarted for the first time, Fernando Alonso had a snap of oversteer exiting the last corner and Hamilton took eighth place off him. As the race settled down, Hamilton was surprised how hard those ahead were pushing.

“Where is a second then, mate?”

Hamilton didn’t seem remotely surprised by his penalty when it was announced, saying nothing on his radio in response to the confirmation from his team.

However he was dismayed to hear just how much quicker the cars at the front of the field were. Race engineer Peter Bonnington confirmed they intended to add three turns of front wing angle at his coming pit stop to counteract the understeer he was experiencing.

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“Tyres still holding on”

Hamilton’s team mate George Russell was one of the first drivers to pit. Mercedes originally planned to bring Hamilton in a lap ahead of his target, but soon revised that, telling him he would stay out an extra four laps. Hamilton confirmed his tyres appeared to be holding up well.

“The double yellow keeps flashing up”

On lap 30 race control spotted a wing mirror on the straight approaching turn one. Yellow flags were shown and for a while they repeatedly appeared and disappeared from the timing screen. Eventually the track was declared clear even though the debris had not been removed.

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“Just trust me to have this luck”

Valtteri Bottas struck the mirror and smashed it, scattering more debris across the track. Hamilton picked up a puncture, though he reported it before the Sauber hit the mirror.

Hamilton limped into the pits where he had a penalty to serve. But as he did so he picked up another penalty – he exceeded the pit lane speed limit by 12.5kph. By this time the Safety Car had been deployed again.

“Am I dead last now, yeah?”

Having fallen a lap behind under the Safety Car, Hamilton was anxious that he should get the chance to un-lap himself and rejoin the rear of the queue before the restart. He made it with only seconds to spare.

Soon after the race restarted it was neutralised once more, this time due to Sergio Perez spinning to a stop.

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“I don’t know what’s wrong with this car”

Hamilton remained deeply frustrated by his car’s handling.

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“We can now retire the car”

With 10 laps to go, Hamilton was informed he had a drive-through penalty for his pit lane speeding infringement. He was eager to retire his car.

Bonnington pointed out they needed to serve the penalty before retiring, otherwise the stewards might hand him a penalty for the following race. Hamilton duly drove the pits to serve the penalty.

By now he really was last. However Hamilton decided to complete the small number of remaining laps and passed the struggling, soft-shod RB drivers to finish 12th. He had nothing to say on his radio at the end, however.

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