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Hamilton stalls on final test
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THE usually faultless Mercedes experienced a rare blip yesterday on the final day of preseason testing when Lewis Hamilton stalled at the pit lane exit shortly before the end of the morning session.
While Sebastian Vettel clocked a leading time of 1 minute, 22.852 seconds in his smooth-running Ferrari, Hamilton’s car had a transmission problem and went back to the garage for further assessment. The previous seven days of testing were incident-free for Mercedes, as Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg proved the ultra-reliability of the W07 car by logging considerably more laps than their rivals.
Hamilton was on medium tires when the incident happened, so the British driver did not get to test out the new ultra-soft option ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on March 20.
Earlier, the triple world champion blasted Formula One as “broken” and “lacking in direction” as the sport’s bosses debated a range of changes to regulations. The Mercedes star believes that tinkering with the qualifying format, which has caused splits in the paddock and amongst fans as the world championship tries to boost its appeal, is detrimental to the sport.
The autosport.com and BBC reported that when asked if Formula One is “broken, lacking direction, or in rude health?”, Hamilton replied: “I would probably say the first two you suggested.”
“I don’t want to say too much, but I do agree with the first two things you said,” he said.
The Briton also took aim at the new cockpit safety system, known as the “Halo.”
The three-pointed carbon structure is placed at the front of the car and is intended to prevent more driver fatalities.
“Please no! This is the worst looking mod (modification) in Formula 1 history. I appreciate the quest for safety but this is formula 1, and the way it is now is perfectly fine,” Hamilton wrote on his Instagram page.
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