Lewis Hamilton had a moment to laugh during the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, in what is a race the seven-time World Champion will want to forget about very quickly.
Starting the race from fifth, Hamilton made a strong start to get himself into third, before a red flag was required after Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg crashed at the opening corner.
At the restart, the Mercedes driver tried to overtake Lando Norris but to no avail with him having quickly tumbled down the order.
Fernando Alonso was the first to get past Hamilton on the way into Turn 4, before Sergio Perez found his way past the 38-year-old prior to the first round of pit-stops.
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Hamilton was the first of the lead drivers to pit and did manage to undercut Perez.
It meant nothing though, as Perez easily got back past the 103-time race winner.
Hamilton just continued to tumble down the order, with Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly having gotten past.
The W14 just had absolutely no pace, to the extent that George Russell dropped outside the top-10 prior to retiring from the race.
Hamilton ultimately managed to bring his car home in eighth, massively costing him in the fight against Perez for second in the Drivers’ Championship.
Perez now has a 32-point advantage over Hamilton with two races remaining, meaning the position is more likely than not going to be claimed by the Mexican driver at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Despite enduring a miserable race where tyre wear was again an issue for Mercedes, Hamilton did share a somewhat comical moment with his race engineer.
Peter Bonnington asked Hamilton during the race to use his tyres, to which Hamilton sympathetically laughed.
“Let’s use the tyres now,” Bonnington told Hamilton over the radio.
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Following a chuckle to himself, Hamilton replied: “I have been for the last five laps, dude.”
Having shown so much pace in both Austin and Mexico City, Mercedes appear to have taken a real step backwards at a pivotal moment in the season, as they’re yet to secure second in the Constructors’ Championship.
Mercedes lead Ferrari by just 20 points, with that battle likely to go all the way to Abu Dhabi.