Mercedes explain why Lewis Hamilton’s ‘park the car’ plea was denied

Mercedes have explained why Lewis Hamilton’s request to retire his car in the F1 Qatar Grand Prix was rejected.

The seven-time world champion’s disappointing run of recent form continued in Qatar as he finished the penultimate race of the season outside of the points in 12th after being hit with two penalties and suffering a puncture.

Hamilton picked up a five-second time penalty for a false start before later being hit with a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

During his miserable outing, Hamilton was heard asking Mercedes over team radio to “park his car”, which was dismissed by race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff revealed this was so his penalty did not get carried over into this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“So, I mean, the race was bad,” Wolff told media including Crash.net after Sunday’s race in Qatar.

“I think the car was sort of difficult for most of them to drive. It just didn’t turn enough.

“When the grip kicks in, the understeer, there are terrible understeer and both of them suffer from that.

“And then [it] comes to that, the poor start, and the pitlane speeding, and it came to a point quite well it almost didn’t make any sense to continue.

“But if you park the car, you’re carrying this five-second penalty into Abu Dhabi.”

Abu Dhabi a ‘celebration’ for Hamilton

Abu Dhabi will mark Hamilton’s final race for Mercedes after 12 seasons with the team, before he completes a blockbuster switch to Ferrari.

Wolff insisted the weekend will be one of “celebration” for Hamilton and Mercedes.

“First of all, with Lewis, we have this amazing partnership that has gone on for 20 years,” Wolff said.

“We’ve won eight Constructors’ Championships and six Drivers’ with him, and I don’t know how many races he won, 80-something. So that’s the overarching feeling.

“I think when I speak to Lewis, that’s something which we are holding dearly.

“Now, these last races, maybe in the whole season, in the last week, was clearly not what we expect.

“That car has a handful to drive on its worst days, like it was today. The moment the grip kicks in, [it] just doesn’t turn. So, we have one more [race] to go.

“We will continue to give it our utmost, and we will celebrate the partnership, the relationship that we had, and those few races will be forgotten quickly. As much as it hurts at the moment.”