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“It’s shit with a capital S”- Lewis Hamilton on slippery Istanbul track

Tanish Chachra
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“It’s shit with a capital S"- Lewis Hamilton on slippery Istanbul track

“It’s shit with a capital S.”- Lewis Hamilton on Istanbul track, which gave much trouble to all teams as the cars slipped during FP 1 & 2.

There would hardly be anyone on the paddock on Friday, who would be happy with the conditions on the track and Lewis Hamilton is apparently among the most furious ones.

The Mercedes driver blasted the track officials for the unrequited restoration of the track and said the conditions were abysmal which prevented cars to bring the best out for themselves.

“This track is such a fantastic circuit, and I really don’t fully understand when they spend millions to redo a surface,” said Hamilton, who was fourth fastest in practice for a weekend set to crown him a champion for a record-equalling seventh time.

“They probably could have just cleaned it maybe, instead of waste all the money,” added the Mercedes driver. “The tyres aren’t working, and you see it. It’s like an ice-rink out there.”

“You don’t get quite the enjoyment of the lap as you would normally get of Istanbul, and I don’t see that changing. It’s terrifying the whole way around. It’s almost like there are wet patches all over…”

“The older circuits… it’s much more open between all the stones, so it works the tyre more, whereas this one is super closed and flat and shiny and I guess the oil seeps from the tarmac I guess, or whatever they put down, it’s shit with a capital S.” he said.

Rain going to do further damage

The weather reports from the area predict a certain degree of rain on both days, which could add to the slide already acquired by the track. Moreover, the soft tyre is appearing to be the most vulnerable on the track.

Hence, giving a huge problem for qualifying, where the use of these tyres is crucial. Now, it remains upon officials what they will do to improve the status of the track.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra

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Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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