Lewis Hamilton says the Mercedes Formula 1 team has implemented a temporary fix to prevent a repeat of his Azerbaijan Grand Prix switch error but is still looking for a “longer-term solution”.
Hamilton unwittingly toggled the ‘brake magic’ preset – which moves the brake balance dramatically forward in order to assist with tyre warm-up – in the lead-up to the late-race restart in Baku, and locked up hard at Turn 1 just as he took the lead from Sergio Perez, going straight on.
The error effectively cost him 25 points, as he didn’t have anywhere near enough laps left to get himself back into the points so finished 15th.
Mercedes said in the aftermath of the race that it would look to have a preventative measure in place as early as the following race at Paul Ricard, and speaking ahead of the French GP weekend Hamilton elaborated on what the team has come up with.
“We haven’t moved it [the button],” Hamilton said. “We’ve just put a shroud around it just to make sure that I can’t accidentally touch it in future.
“But that’s for the short term. The [steering] wheel’s not so easy to change or to move buttons because it was all designed [carefully]. So we’ll look for a longer-term solution probably in the future.”
Having had a week and a half to reflect on what he initially described as a “humbling experience” of hitting the switch, Hamilton dismissed suggestions that the pressure of the Max Verstappen title fight contributed to the error.
“Max wasn’t in the race at the time so it definitely wasn’t in the pressure from him,” he said. “And I don’t even count it as a mistake.
“I don’t feel any pressure, I feel pretty relaxed and you can’t always be perfect.
“A mistake is when you drive off the track through missing a braking point or hitting the wall. It was kind of an unforced error.
“It’s something that we had that was sitting there that could have happened at any point.
“Unfortunately, it’s bitten us pretty hard but we learn from the experience and move forwards.”
