Jun.1 (GMM) Mercedes is yet to explain why Lewis Hamilton stopped on track immediately after the Monaco grand prix.
Following the strategy bungle that cost the Briton a sure victory, Hamilton’s car stopped momentarily in the Portier corner before resuming its slow return to the pits.
Some compared the Portier ‘moment’ to Ayrton Senna’s legendary crash at the very same corner – just before the fabled tunnel entrance – in 1988.
“I think he is going home straight away,” Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, a beneficiary of Mercedes’ bungled strategy, joked on the radio after seeing the stationary Hamilton.
Famously, in 1988, Hamilton’s hero Senna stormed back to his nearby apartment from Portier after throwing away an easy Monaco victory.
A Mercedes team source told us there was no technical reason for Hamilton’s stoppage.
And Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that whatever Hamilton discussed on the radio with his engineers during the moment has not been made public.
But Peter Bonnington, Hamilton’s race engineer, came onto the radio after the chequered flag and told his charge: “I’m really sorry about that Lewis, mate.”
In the days after Monaco, the 30-year-old was photographed relaxing on a yacht with 19-year-old Kendall Jenner, who is famous for her place in the Kardashian clan.
And then Hamilton jetted out to Nevada to take part in a leg of the Gumball 3000 rally in a Koenigsegg Agera supercar.