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Lewis Hamilton's resilience was put to the ultimate test at the Italian GP on Sunday as he grappled with brake problems that threatened to end his race prematurely.
As he raced at the Monza circuit, the 38-year-old faced a race against time to secure a hard-earned sixth-place finish, with his brakes hanging on by a thread.
As per a report from Auto Motor und Sport, Hamilton's brakes would not have lasted had the race been two laps longer. The ordeal began early in the race when his brake issues were diagnosed by the Mercedes team. As the laps ticked away, the problem escalated, and a DNF loomed over Lewis Hamilton's already underwhelming season.
It was a race in which Mercedes found themselves completely outclassed in comparison with their nearest rivals, Red Bull and Ferrari. The mid-field battle between Aston Martin, McLaren, and Williams, meanwhile, raged on, with Hamilton right in the thick of it.
Even though both Mercedes drivers faced penalties, Lewis Hamilton was dealing with a more pressing concern – the deteriorating state of his brakes.
In the final laps, Hamilton's brakes teetered on the edge of failure. The Mercedes engineers, who had correctly selected the cooling level, suspected that tire rubber had found its way into the cooling shafts during intense duels, exacerbating the already precarious situation.
Scorching weather conditions added to Lewis Hamilton's break ordeal
The sweltering conditions at Monza added to the challenge of managing tire wear, particularly for a car that typically excels in this area. Mercedes' chief engineer Andrew Shovlin acknowledged the difficulty, stating:
"The hot conditions made it difficult to deal with the tires and if you wanted to defend or attack it became pretty tight with just one pit stop. Normally our car goes easy on the rear tires. But here we have had since Friday problems keeping temperatures low."
There had been hopes that Ferrari would experience greater tire wear over the course of the race. However, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff conceded that Ferrari possessed the superior car on this type of track.
Nonetheless, Wolff opined that Mercedes had shown consistent improvement from Baku to Spa to Monza, adapting to tracks with varying levels of downforce. He stated:
"Ferrari has the better car on this type of track. But we have improved from Baku via Spa to Monza on tracks with this level of downforce."
Despite the challenges, Lewis Hamilton nursed his Mercedes W14 across the finish line to secure a hard-fought sixth place. Mercedes left Monza with 18 valuable points in their pocket.
