Lewis Hamilton GPS loss left Ferrari “completely blind” in British GP

Ferrari lost GPS on Lewis Hamilton’s car which left them “completely blind” during the British Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton’s incredible podium streak at Silverstone came to an end as he had to settle with fourth place behind Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who claimed a stunning maiden F1 rostrum.

Hamilton switched to slicks on Lap 41 but lost crucial time on his outlap by going straight on at Turns 3 and 4, while Hulkenberg pitted a lap later and was able to stay ahead to deny the 40-year-old Briton a home podium.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur revealed to media including Crash.net after the race that Hamilton’s car had a transponder issue which meant they could not locate where he was on track.

“You can say now that it was probably one lap too early, because he went straight in Turn 3/4 and he lost four or five seconds in these two corners,” Vasseur said of the timing of Hamilton’s second pit stop.

“But [Fernando] Alonso pitted before and he was already faster in some corners than all the guys on intermediates.

“It’s the kind of situation that if you wait the others do it before you and it’s always too late and I think it’s quite easy to say after the race ‘first pitstop would have been better one lap before, second pit stop stop one lap later’.

“But honestly on this, when you have to take the decision on the pit wall, it’s always a tricky one because you always have to anticipate.

“On top of that we lost the GPS of Lewis the whole race and that meant we were completely blind and we didn’t know where the car was. It was a difficult one.”

Why did Ferrari struggle?

Ferrari opted to go for a high-downforce set-up for their cars in the hope of better performance in the wet conditions, but both drivers complained about how tricky the SF-25 was to drive.

Hamilton was heard complaining his car was “very snappy” after a wide moment through Copse while Leclerc finished down in 14th after a gamble to switch onto slicks before the start backfired.

Asked why Ferrari struggled for competitiveness, Vasseur replied: “We were a step down compared to McLaren. We had much more downforce than Max [Verstappen] but we were also much faster than Max today.

“I’m not sure that the pure pace is the main issue today. What is true on Charles at least is that the race was done Lap 1 with the call to pit for slicks.

“The main issue we had today was that we struggled a lot when we are in the dirty air to overtake and we spent more [tyre] life to overtake, sometimes 10 laps, then we were much faster.

“It was a difficult weekend, difficult for the strategy. Today I think everybody has done some regrets except for [Lando] Norris probably and Nico [Hulkenberg].

“But when you finish a race like this you will always have the feeling ‘if I had pitted one lap before, one lap after, it would have been much faster’. But let’s focus on the qualifying and the championship.”