Mercedes explains Lewis Hamilton’s nightmare pit stop

Lewis Hamilton had a dismal race at Hockenheim. The five-time world champion finished outside the points in 11th, but for hours later was promoted to ninth after both Alfa Romeo cars picked up penalties in German GP. However, it is still Hamilton’s joint-worst race finish since Mercedes’ era of success began in 2014. The 34-year-old was on course for victory before he changed to dry tyres, he then needed a new front wing after running off the track, receiving a five-second penalty for entering the pits incorrectly and then spinning out of control in the final stages. "There was a lot of chaos when Lewis came in," admits chief trackside engineer, Andrew Shovlin in the latest edition of Pure Pitwall, "but we were in the pits ready for Valtteri. He had decided to stay out and at the same time, Lewis had gone off track, hit the wall and broken the front wing, so he came in. "We could see that he was coming in, but it takes the guys a little while to get the different tyres out. But, also, we had this broken nose and we can't lift the car on that to do the normal change with the jack, so we had to get the different kit out to do that. "It looked messy," he admits. "There was a change of driver on the tyre call and we also changed the tyre spec from a soft to an intermediate tyre and getting the communication through to the guys when everything is so chaotic is very difficult. "We are aware it wasn't pretty, the guys in the pits actually did a really good job reacting to that and we at least got the right tyres on the right car. But those situations are very difficult, and they are not rehearsed, they are not the ones we practice. But it does show us where we need to be stronger in future. "Both the cars spun in Turn 1 as you saw," said Shovlin. "There were two reasons. One, the balance was a little bit oversteery for the conditions, we obviously hadn't run in those cold, damp conditions during the weekend, we didn't get it quite right. "But there was also the dry line and then a damp patch and with both of them, they just got a wheel on there, lost a lot of grip and it triggered it into the spin."

Nico Rosberg makes comparison between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen