Lewis Hamilton wanted Las Vegas GP ‘stopped’ in angry Mercedes radio message

Russell hopes to hit jackpot at Las Vegas Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton called for the Las Vegas Grand Prix to be stopped over his team radio in a frustrating message regarding a Safety Car that was deployed. On an eventful day in Nevada, the Brit was infuriated at the speed that the Safety Car was going at after McLaren driver Lando Norris crashed out of the race.

Norris went into the barriers after just four laps and was taken to the hospital for precautionary checks before being released. After the scary moment, the stewards sent out a Safety Car for two laps and several drivers went in to pit to take advantage of the opportunity to save some time.

Hamilton remained on the track with his Mercedes team-mate George Russell as they bemoaned the pace of the Safety Car. They insisted that dropping to such a slow speed was “dangerous” to the drivers at a point when the seven-time world champion called for a decision to be made on whether to continue the race.

“No grip out here,” Hamilton complained on his team radio. “This pace is so slow it’s dangerous for us. They need to either speed up or stop this.” In a chaotic race and weekend, it would have been disastrous for Formula 1 to halt the race despite gripes from both Silver Arrow drivers.

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Russell then echoed Hamilton’s complaints as he vented: “Tyre temps are dropping like a stone here. Safety car really needs a bit of a move on.” This came after the start of the race was placed under investigation due to Charles Leclerc being forced off the track at the first corner by Max Verstappen.

On lap seven normal racing resumed as drivers got some temperature back into their tyres, but as Hamilton began to make some headway after a P12 start he was quickly forced to the very back of the grid after suffering a puncture.

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He made contact with Oscar Piastri when attempting an overtake and continued driving before noting the puncture, which set him all the way back to P19 after pitting for new tyres on a slow stop.

Afterwards, Hamilton vented his frustration despite bouncing back to seal a seventh-placed finish after calling for the Grand Prix to be stopped. “A really challenging race,” he said. “I started on the hard tyre which was tricky at the beginning. I got a big hit from someone behind, I think it was Carlos [Sainz], and tried to not hit the cars that had spun around. I fell back five or six places.

“Then after that just making my way back. I was feeling great, the tyres were feeling good, the pace was strong. I went up the inside of Piastri, I don’t really know exactly what happened, I obviously got the hit from behind. I think it was a racing incident.”

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