Lewis Hamilton likened his Mercedes' handling to a four-poster bed during the Chinese Grand Prix after he sustained damage at the start of the race following contact with Sauber's Felipe Nasr.
The Briton started from last after suffering an ERS failure during the first part of qualifying, which meant he had to battle his way through the pack. He made up several places going into Turn 1, but couldn't avoid Nasr who had taken avoiding action following Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen's contact.
"It was definitely a difficult one," said Hamilton after the race. "I got a good start, which is always difficult starting from the back, getting caught up in things. I tried to avoid what was ahead of me, but got tangled in it.
"After that I just tried to battle through, but every time I stopped I had to come through again, I wasn't gaining ground, and at the end there weren't enough tyres."
Hamilton not only lost his front-wing during the clash, dropping him down to last place, but he suspects there was also damage to the suspension which made his job even harder.
"This track is quite good because you can overtake and get close, but the car was pretty damaged.
"I'm sure some aerodynamic components were damaged, but I think the suspension was as well. The car was flexing like crazy, like a four-poster bed today."
Hamilton is now 36 points behind his team-mate in the championship standings and is hoping things will get better from here: "That's racing, not a great finish, but hopefully onwards and upwards."
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