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How a 'magic button' sent Lewis Hamilton from first to next-to-last in a Formula 1 race

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix — and a “magic button” — changed the complexion of the Formula 1 season.

With Red Bull and Mercedes jockeying for the top spot in the constructors’ standings, both teams needed every point they could get. And both teams squandered points in Sunday’s race on the Baku City Circuit, with Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas having an absolutely disastrous day.

Hamilton pressed the “magic button” during a race restart. That’s typical for Mercedes, which uses the button to help the car’s tires stay hot. The problem was that the driver had the “brake magic” on when the race started again. That led him to lock up as soon as he hit his brakes around his first turn. And — in a case of driver/user error — Hamilton went off the track. He corrected the mistake, but at that point, it was too late.

He finished 15th in the race, second to last among drivers who didn’t retire their cars. So let’s explain what exactly went wrong and what it means for Hamilton, Mercedes and F1.

So what happened, exactly? What is this magic button?

The Baku GP went into a restart after Max Verstappen crashed with just four laps  remaining in the race. It seemed like a golden opportunity for Mercedes, who was trailing Red Bull entering the race.

It’s customary for Mercedes to turn on their “brake magic” to keep their tires hot during the red-flag period. However, Hamilton said he hit the “magic button” to turn it off before lining up for the restart — at least he thought he did. He believes he accidentally pressed it again to turn it back on before the race resumed. He may have also forgotten to turn off the “brake magic.”

Here’s an explanation from Motorsports.com on what that button does for the car:

“Mercedes uses a button system to help its drivers better warm up their tyres and brakes during formation laps and safety car restarts.

“It shifts the brake balance towards the front wheels, and the extra braking force that is applied produces extra heat in the discs that is then radiated to the front tyres.

“The magic button is usually disconnected for the race start when the brake balance returns to the ideal settings for race laps.”

It’s not a stretch to say Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, is the most consistent and excellent driver in Formula 1. The fact that he made such a consequential mistake is simply stunning. Mercedes missed the podium for a second straight week, the first time that’s happened in the V6 turbo era. That should give you a sense of his consistency.

What did it look like?

Like this…

Yup, that’s all it took. Hamilton briefly took the lead before falling into last place. Here’s how Mercedes principal Toto Wolff reacted.

Devastating.

What did Mercedes say about the issue?

They were not happy.

Wolff said he and Hamilton were “destroyed.”

“Both of us are destroyed, to be honest,” Wolff said, via ESPN. “For him obviously, as a driver, you have it, it’s so close, and then it’s all gone.

“We just need to be the best, the best of us, and the best that we have. And we haven’t given the drivers a competitive package this weekend. It’s been far from a competitive package.

“That is the frustration. It is not only the incident at the end, that frustrates. It’s overall not meeting our own expectations. All of us together: Lewis, the engineers, myself, everybody in the team.”

Hamilton apologized and shared some details about the “small error.”

What did it mean for the race and the F1 season?

The race might have been a unique opportunity for Mercedes, with Verstappen retiring his car due to tire problems. That opened a window for Hamilton, Bottas and Mercedes to jump ahead of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. And in the individual standings, Hamilton (101 points) would have jumped past Verstappen (105 points).

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez came in first, and earned 25 points. It didn’t help for Mercedes that Bottas finished 12th, which yielded 0 points.

Had Hamilton avoided the mistake, he might be atop both the drivers and constructors’ standings. Instead, Verstappen still leads F1 drivers and Red Bull (174) leads constructors with Mercedes (148) in second, Ferrari (94) in third and McLaren (92) in fourth.

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