'Radio' Hamilton, a Sunday between discouragement and rebirth

Lewis Hamilton he finished in fifth place the Spanish GP on Sunday. An apparently ‘normal’ result, in line with the performance shown by his Mercedes during these first six GPs. In reality, however, the Barcelona race was quite special for the seven-time world champion, who fell to last position on the first lap after a collision with Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. Disheartened, Hamilton even asked his team to collect the car. But the team pushed him to continue and he did very well. The # 44 in fact made a comeback from annals, climbing from 20th to fourth without even the help of a Safety Car or a VSC. In the final laps, the risk of a possible retirement due to technical problems imposed caution on the Mercedes pit wall, which asked the Stevenage champion to slow down and let Sainz’s Ferrari pass by, settling for fifth place. On an emotional level it was very interesting to follow the evolution of Hamilton’s mood, well represented by some radio messages from him.

Lap 1/66
Hamilton: “Ha f ** k! I have been hit”.
Mercedes: “Received, box box”.

Round 3/66
Hamilton: “I think I have some damage, because the car is difficult to drive”.
Mercedes: “We believe there is no damage from what we have checked.”

Lap 4/66
Hamilton: “If I were you I would save the engine, I’m sorry”.
Mercedes: “Lewis we still think we can get points here today. The eighth position, or maybe better “.

Lap 11/66
Hamilton: “Did they do something to the pilot who hit me?”.
Mercedes: “Lewis negative, no investigation needed apparently.”
Hamilton: “Obviously”.

Tour 19/66
Hamilton: “Am I still in the race?”.
Mercedes: “Yes Lewis, we are still in the race. Without the Safety Car, we are still in anticipation of a points zone. We just have to get out of phase [la strategia] as much as we can “.

Lap 28/66
Hamilton: “Give me some updates on the times. Am I fast or not. I’m slow?”.
Mercedes: “The pace is good. George is currently doing 28.8. He is battling with Verstappen ”.

Round 60/66
Mercedes: “Good boy! You’re fourth now, head down ”.
Hamilton: “Posting in front? How many laps are missing? ”.
Mercedes: “Up front is George, 13 seconds. Only 5 laps “.

Lap 63/66
Mercedes: “Lewis lift and coast increases. The power unit is warming up ”.
Hamilton: “Ok”.
Mercedes: “We do as many lift and coast as possible. We risk a withdrawal. If we’re going to lose the Lewis position, let’s do it. We risk withdrawal “.

Lap 64/66
Mercedes: “50% accelerator Lewis, this is becoming critical.”
Hamilton: “Oh come on guys! Give me a setting “.
Mercedes: “There is no setting for this Lewis. We will have to leave the position to Sainz ”.
Hamilton: “Is it getting cold?”
Mercedes: “It’s coming down with these actions, but we have to keep doing them.”

Lap 66/66
Mercedes: “Well done mate. Sorry for the latter part. What a great guide! You moved up to fourth place! We sold the position to Sainz with this management, but still an extraordinary guide ”.
Wolff: “Lewis, sorry for the temperatures at the end. This was an extraordinary race. You were the fastest car out there. Probably the best pace. We would have been there for the win. Fantastic”.
Hamilton: “Great work guys, I’m very happy with this result. This is really good for all of us. Thank you so much for continuing to push. The updates really worked this weekend. We keep pushing. Well done to George. Nice guide “.