Overheating backside no concern for race, says Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton continues to struggle with an overheating backside due to unexpectedly high temperatures in the Mercedes cockpit.

However he insisted today that it wouldn’t slow him down if he’s leading the race tomorrow.

“If you are winning you can do anything!,” he joked. “I don’t know what it is. Sometimes you have heat coming in – you have hydraulics in the car and sometimes your ankles and feet start getting very warm in some races. Sometimes with the tubes that come into the cockpit or wires that come into the cockpit there’s heat [that] comes through them.

“So there will be a small leak somewhere. They’ve been patching it up, and also I changed the seat, which has less insulation or less heat protection on. I’m sure they’ll do everything. But yesterday was kind of warm. It doesn’t burn through the overalls but your butt’s pretty hot! It felt like you’d had a real whoopin’, that’s all I can compare it to.”

Meanwhile team boss Toto Wolff added: “There is an electronic box below his bum, so it’s either that or the engine itself. We changed the seat, we put more insulation between the seat and the chassis, and hoped the problem is solved. It’s not solved yet.”