Lewis Hamilton, the British driver for Mercedes AMG in Formula 1, expressed his belief that his car suffered damage during the Chinese Grand Prix due to the significant understeer he encountered. Despite a promising start to the weekend, with a second place in the Sprint, Hamilton faced a challenging moment on the track in Shanghai. He managed to recover from 18th to ninth place after being eliminated in Q1. Hamilton chose to start with the soft compound, but struggled to make progress and lost a position on the first lap. He described the experience as tough and suspected damage to his car due to the excessive understeer he experienced. However, it turned out to be a result of the setup he had chosen. Hamilton acknowledged that his aggressive changes to the setup after the Sprint contributed to the difficulties he faced during the race. Mercedes’ Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, admitted that the team was somewhat relieved that Hamilton was able to score points despite the challenges he faced.
