Three-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he “can’t explain” the reason why he struggled at the Russian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver qualified in fourth place and had a good start, but found himself boxed in on the run to Turn 2 and had to settle for position.
In the early stages, Hamilton dropped back from the three leaders, reporting some “cut outs” of power and temperature issues with his car.
He pitted on lap 31 but continued to struggle for pace, eventually finishing 36 seconds behind race winner – and team-mate – Valtteri Bottas.
“I can’t explain right now but we’ll do some work over this week to fully understand it,” he said.
“I have some theories about how it felt in the race and qualifying, I have some ideas but as I said lots of work over the week to figure out where we are.”
Hamilton felt that the overheating issues were causing him to lose up to a second per lap compared to his rivals.
“I think I could kind of match those times at the front maybe but whether I would have lasted as long, probably not with the set-up that I had," he said.
“With the backing off for the temperature, it was losing seven tenths, whatever it was, maybe a second a lap.”
Hamilton slipped 13 points behind Sebastian Vettel in the standings, who consolidated his lead with second place.
