Some F1 fans were perplexed when Lewis Hamilton was let to climb out of his car on his own, despite suffering from severe back discomfort as a result of his Mercedes’ acute porpoising troubles with it being due to the F1 2022 parc ferme rules
Because of a rigorous F1 rule, Lewis Hamilton was unable to get assistance stepping out of his vehicle at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Due to his car’s excessive porpoising, Hamilton experienced back pain all across the race around Baku’s streets. The seven-time world champion cried that his back was bothering him at one point during the race.
F1 2022 Parc Ferme Rules Which Didn’t Allow Lewis Hamilton To Get Help Getting Out Of His Mercedes Despite Back Pain And Injury
Lewis Hamilton struggling to get out of his car after the #GPAzerbaijan in Baku. #F1 pic.twitter.com/ToBC0U2BEh
— TrackedF1 (@tracked_f1) June 12, 2022
Despite his unpleasant trek through the wiggly streets of Azerbaijan’s capital, Hamilton made it to the finish line in fourth place. After coming to a halt in parc ferme, the British ace battled to get out of his Mercedes, prompting some to wonder why no one helped him.
According to park ferme rules, racers cannot be handled by another person. Until they are measured after the race. Therefore Hamilton needed to get out of the vehicle on his own.
However, Hamilton and Mercedes may find themselves in hot water after a photo surfaced showing a team worker assisting the 37-year-old as he struggled to exit the cockpit.
Hamilton told that he was hoping for the event to end because his car was porpoising vertically and horizontally on the street course. “That’s the only thing,” he added, “just holding this like chowing down on my teeth amid pain and adrenaline.”
“I can’t imagine the agony you’re going through, especially on the straightaway here. And in the end, all you want to do is pray for it to cease. We’re in such wonderful shape; the third and fourth place is a great outcome for the squad. The strategy was executed flawlessly by the team.”
If Mercedes can resolve the porpoising issue, Hamilton feels they will be able to compete with Red Bull and Ferrari at the very front of grid.
“We can be right now in the race once we solve this bouncing,” he remarked. “However, simply by bouncing, we were losing nearly a second. Tomorrow I’ll be at the factory. We need to keep pushing and have some excellent talks.”
With the Canadian Grand Prix in Montréal only a week away. Mercedes doesn’t have much time to fix the porpoising issue.
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