{"id":83435,"date":"2021-06-11T01:37:02","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T01:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=83435"},"modified":"2021-06-11T02:22:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T02:22:55","slug":"hamilton-blunder-exposes-big-problem-for-f1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=83435","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton blunder exposes 'big problem' for F1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lewis Hamilton<\/a>'s error that cost him a possible win in this week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix<\/a> highlights a "big problem" with Formula One, according to a former leading designer.<\/p>\n

Hamilton was challenging Red Bull's Sergio Perez for the lead at the first corner of the restarted race in Baku, but had inadvertently hit a switch on the steering wheel that changed his brake bias.<\/p>\n

With the setting now moved as far forward as possible, a move typically used behind the safety car to keep the front tyres warm and certainly not appropriate for racing speeds, Hamilton locked up and went sailing down the escape road.<\/p>\n

Instead of fighting for the lead, the Mercedes driver rejoined in last place.<\/p>\n

\"Lewis<\/p>\n

It was a huge blow to Hamilton's championship prospects, with the Mercedes driver's chief rival, Max Verstappen<\/a>, having retired from the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hamilton would have regained the championship lead had he finished seventh or better.<\/p>\n

"The fact a driver can so easily hit something by accident that basically guarantees they are going to go off is a big problem," Gary Anderson wrote on the-race.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"Imagine if that had been someone in the middle of the pack, or if it's a corner without runoff? That could cause a very serious accident with multiple cars involved.<\/p>\n

"Having such a dramatic impact on the car through one push of a button is a safety concern."<\/p>\n

\"Lewis<\/p>\n

Anderson, who made his name as the chief designer for Jordan in the 1990s, pointed out that the steering wheel on a modern F1 car is ridiculously complicated.<\/p>\n

"A glance at the Mercedes steering wheel shows an astonishing number of switches, dials and paddles \u2013 more than 20 by my count \u2013 so if anything it's a surprise these kind of mistakes don't happen more often," he wrote.<\/p>\n

"I'd suggest that a rule should state that no driver-activated switch should be able to impact a system by more than a certain percentage from its initial setting when the car's road wheels were last at zero road speed."<\/p>\n

\"Lewis<\/p>\n

Anderson highlighted the simplicity of the steering wheel on the 1991 Jordan that he designed, noting that even the dashboard behind it only contained "basic information".<\/p>\n

"I'm not saying we should go back to that but by comparison, today's steering wheels are ridiculously complex and uber-expensive. Driving fast should be about the driver's feel for the car, not about who manages to operate the systems correctly," he wrote.<\/p>\n

"It is illegal to use your mobile phone while driving a road car, yet the safety commission of the FIA considers it safe enough to allow a racing driver to play with all these steering wheel knobs, dials and buttons whilst travelling at stupid speeds.<\/p>\n

"It seems a bit alien to me."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lewis Hamilton's error that cost him a possible win in this week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix highlights a "big problem" with Formula One, according to a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83435"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83437,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83435\/revisions\/83437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}