Mercedes deny initial surprise Lewis Hamilton request to 'retire the car'

The 2024 Qatar Grand Prix may not have been as punishing on drivers temperature-wise as last year — but the FIA took up that mantle by levying a suite of bizarre penalties.

Lewis Hamilton was the recipient of two of those penalties — and after the second, the Mercedes driver was desperate to retire the car. His team initially denied him that request.

Mercedes denies Lewis Hamilton’s retirement request

A challenging Qatar Grand Prix weekend went from bad to worse for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, in what was his penultimate event with his team.

After qualifying, Hamilton lamented that it was “not possible” for Mercedes to improve his car — at least not before the end of the season. However, he argued that he’s “still got it” when it comes to race pace.

The race stewards played fast and loose with issuing penalties for any variety of issues, and Hamilton was on the receiving end of two: One five-second penalty for a false start, and one drive-through at the end of the race for speeding through the pit lane.

Hamilton’s race never really recovered from that first penalty.

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Upon receiving the second penalty, Hamilton was understandably frustrated. He had struggled all race with a difficult-handling car, and the penalty seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Peter Bonnington radioed Hamilton to request he serve the penalty.

“Retire the car,” the driver responded. “Retire the car.”

“Negative,” was the response.

Hamilton was undeterred.

“I’m switching off when I get in there, mate,” he warned the team.

At that point, he was informed that that would constitute failing to serve the penalty, which would result in a five-second penalty in the next race, Abu Dhabi. Hamilton drove through the pit lane without stopping.

Even stranger is the fact that, one lap after denying Hamilton’s request, Mercedes radioed in to request that he retire the car after all.

Nevertheless, Hamilton went on to finish the race, even managing to pass the slower VCARBs of Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda in the process.

At the moment, it is unclear why Mercedes ultimately allowed Hamilton to retire the car. Considering Hamilton’s ability to pass cars at the end of the race, it seems likely that Mercedes were simply happy to concede to their driver’s wish.

Heading into the finale, Hamilton sits in seventh in the World Drivers’ Championship with a total of 211 points.

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