‘That wasn’t what knocked him out’ - Lewis Hamilton’s car set-up claims debated

Lewis Hamilton’s claims about the set-up of his Mercedes F1 car have been debated following his shocking Chinese Grand Prix qualifying result.

Just hours after the seven-time world champion enjoyed his best result of the season by finishing second to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the sprint race, he could only qualify 18th on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix.

His Mercedes teammate George Russell took eighth as he inflicted another qualifying defeat on Hamilton, who failed to make it out of Q1 for the first time in two years following a costly error at Turn 14.

Hamilton said he had made “massive changes” to his car ahead of qualifying, something that his former teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg contested.

The 39-year-old Briton’s latest qualifying struggle was debated by Sky Sports F1 pundits Karun Chandhok and Damon Hill.

"If he didn’t go deep at 14, he would have been quicker than George,” Chandhok said.

“He would have got through qualifying. Then who knows, as the session unfolded.

“Maybe they did go in different set-up directions. But that wasn’t what knocked him out in Q1.

“It was the error at 14.”

1996 world champion Hill said: “They are fighting over the crumbs at the table.

"They are not in the title fight. Okay, in the constructors, they want to get the best results. But frankly they are not where they want to be, or expect to be. So they are trying everything.

“I don’t know what Lewis’ set-up is. Nico was suggesting that he doesn’t always have that different a set-up to George.

“But subtle differences make a big difference in this sport.”

Chandhok then responded: “The drivers have different set-ups all the time.

“The point you are making is valid. But Mercedes haven’t fully understood the clear direction.

“As Damon knows, if you’ve got a good base-line, you will arrive at a circuit with a good base-line set-up which pretty much works at most circuits.

“Then, a little tweak which is circuit-specific. But the strong base-line is there. I bet Red Bull have the base-line. I think McLaren have that base-line now.

“Mercedes still have not found that happy base-line which is why we are still hearing about these experiments.”