Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have closure on a W15 suspension issue which he flagged up on the US GP Sprint formation lap.

Lining-up P7 for the 19-lap race around the Circuit of the Americas, Hamilton came over team radio before the action had even gotten underway, complaining during the formation lap that he could hear a “clicking” sound under braking.

Lewis Hamilton W15 bearing issue found by Mercedes

When Mercedes got the car back after the Sprint and investigated, they found that the issue came from a broken bearing.

“Anyone who watched it on the TV would have heard Lewis saying, ‘I can feel it clicking, I can feel it clicking’, as he got ready for the Sprint race,” Mercedes’ technical director James Allison said in their US GP debrief.

“When we stripped the car after the Sprint race, a race in which he struggled to get the car’s handling to be sweet-natured, we found that one of the bearings that holds one of the wishbones on had started to break up.

“That was making it move around and giving him that clicking noise, which also was associated with inconsistent handling, which is the main reason he was feeling the back end of the car, even though it is a front-end problem. It translates to the car feeling loose and unpredictable and that had an impact on his race in the Sprint.”

Hamilton’s Saturday in Austin would not get much better as later that day, he suffered a shock Q1 exit in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

However, ahead of that session, Mercedes were at least able to rectify the suspension issue.

“Had we fixed it entirely by qualifying? Yes, we had replaced that part, and that problem did not re-emerge,” Allison confirmed.

“So it was a pain for us to have suffered that problem, difficult for Lewis to then have the Sprint race that way, but that issue was put to bed by qualy and did not feature thereafter.”

From P17 on the United States GP grid, Hamilton was making very early progress, but all of that came undone when he spun into the gravel at Turn 19 on the second lap. His race was over at the same spot where qualifying had ended for team-mate George Russell.

However, Hamilton was completely absolved of blame for that spin by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

“Where I sit at the moment it’s 100 per cent not Lewis’ fault and that’s not to say that I’m protecting him,” he said in his post-race media briefing that included PlanetF1.com.

“It’s clear it was gusty, there was a slipstream, how does all of that interact?”

This was a stance which he reiterated in front of the Sky F1 cameras.

“100 per cent car. He was not even pushing at that stage,” said Wolff.

“We saw it with George on Saturday, perhaps that was maybe over-pushing it, but still abrupt losing it and putting it in the wall.

“Today, there was wind and a bit of dirty air from the car in front. We definitely have an issue. I don’t know if yesterday was the same.

“Lewis Hamilton doesn’t lose the car on lap [two] like this.”

Next up this weekend is the Mexican Grand Prix, a race which Mercedes last won in 2019 via Hamilton.