Hamilton offers cause for ‘ridiculously roasting’ Mercedes seat

Lewis Hamilton has put forward a potential cause behind the hot seats he and team-mate George Russell experienced in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

Throughout both sessions at Monza, Hamilton complained to the team of feeling heat in his seat, with team-mate Russell echoing those thoughts after he jumped in for FP2, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli have deputised in FP1. 

Hamilton did not let the problem bother him that much as he ended FP2 fastest by 0.003s from Lando Norris with Russell sixth quickest, as he put forward a potential explanation for the unusual problem.

“It was ridiculously roasting in the car, and I am not quite sure exactly why,” said Hamilton. 

“I think it might be down by the radiators there was probably some leakage of hot air. 

“It was very hot, like sitting in the sauna with no shorts on.”

Hamilton’s day

As for his feeling in the W15, Hamilton was encouraged by the situation heading into Saturday, although did urge caution about messing too much with the car. 

“It’s been a good day, its generally felt pretty good, but obviously the new tarmac has been a bit of a challenge, but the car felt good from the start,” he added.

“But in FP1, there was a lot of graining, struggling with the tyres, but then we made some good changes in the break and the car was feeling even better in the second session.

“There is still some work to do on a few areas, and in the long run so that we can go the distance, I think that is the challenge. 

“It is going to be really important the work we do in the simulator back at the factory and we need to be careful not to put the car out of place like we have done in the past.”