Lewis Hamilton has explained the story behind his radio message during the Bahrain Grand Prix after the Mercedes star told race engineer Pete Bonnington: “My seat is broken!” The legendary Brit climbed from ninth on the grid to finish in P7 in an underwhelming start to the 2024 campaign.

Hamilton was making steady progress through the field during the opening stage of the race and had already made his way past Fernando Alonso, but the 39-year-old was forced to report a bizarre issue, complaining of a ‘broken seat’ in a radio message sent on lap 25.

Explaining the backstory behind the incident to DAZN after the race, Hamilton said: “Yeah, honestly I think I was braking into turn one and then the seat just shifted, and my left butt cheek fell, basically. I think it just cracked, just snapped, something snapped, so then it was moving around for a while. Like my butt was in the air. On one side it was up in the air.”

The year 2023 was a difficult season for Mercedes as they had to take a back seat to Red Bull after having dominated the Formula 1 circuit for the past decade. The team struggled with their performance, and despite Hamilton looking closer to his best, George Russell struggled more. Mercedes admitted their faults immediately during the first race weekend, but they were no closer to Red Bull. For the first time since 2011, there wasn’t a victory for Mercedes.

Mercedes had won eight consecutive constructors’ championships from 2014 to 2021 before dropping to third and second place in the last two seasons – disappointing finishes for the once-unbeatable team.

The seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton finished the year in third place, his poorest showing since he started racing in Formula 1. His teammate George Russell finished the year in eighth place, a second-season syndrome year for him. However, the lessons Russell learned will hold him well in the future. Russell ended the season on a high note with a second podium of the year in Abu Dhabi. This is something he can build on in an otherwise disappointing season. Hamilton scored 234 points and placed third, while Russell scored 175 points and placed eighth.