P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult weekend in Qatar and was ready to end his race early on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton asked his Mercedes team to retire his car during the challenging Qatar Grand Prix after a series of setbacks. Despite starting from sixth place, he fell back to ninth due to a poor start and a subsequent time penalty for jumping the start lights. Hamilton’s race took a turn for the worse as he encountered a puncture and received a drive-through penalty under the safety car period. Expressing his frustration to his engineer, Peter Bonnington, Hamilton contemplated retiring early from the race. Although Bonnington initially resisted, he eventually agreed to drive through the pit lane as per regulations. This race marked Hamilton’s penultimate one with Mercedes before his move to Ferrari next season, with his final race for the team set to take place in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
