At the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Lewis Hamilton addressed a recent incident that made headlines, involving himself and another driver. During the United States GP press conferences, the #44 Ferrari driver reflected on the last race in Singapore. He explained that, due to a failure of his left front brake, he had no option but to cut several corners in the final laps.
Hamilton had to brake sharply in the closing stages, allowing Fernando Alonso to close in quickly. To maintain his lead, Lewis Hamilton began cutting the inside of several corners, preserving a margin of less than half a second over Fernando Alonso at the finish line.
On team radio, Hamilton had already clarified that he was not intentionally cutting corners. However, the stewards did not accept this as a sufficient explanation for repeated track limit violations, handing him a five-second penalty that dropped him to eighth place, just behind Alonso.
Neither Hamilton nor Ferrari contested the stewards’ decision. Ahead of the Austin GP weekend, Lewis Hamilton reiterated that, in his view, cutting the track was the only viable option. “The final laps were really stressful,” he said.
“I’ve finished races with three tires before, but this time I was running with three brakes. It’s an experience I don’t want to repeat.” Lewis Hamilton explained that exceeding track limits was necessary because he could not slow down enough to take the corners normally, forcing him to use the runoff areas.
“The pedal was completely locked,” said the 1985-born driver. “I had no choice but to use the escape routes; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take the corner.” Despite the challenges, Lewis Hamilton did not dispute the stewards’ ruling. “The FIA penalty was fair,” he added. “It doesn’t change much for me anyway.”
Brake issues are just one of several problems affecting Ferrari both on and off the track lately. For this reason, Austin is a crucial race to restore confidence within the team, among the drivers, and for the fans. The Sprint format could also play in Ferrari’s favor, as the team has historically performed well when preparing the car in shorter time windows.
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