Hamilton’s puncture not caused by mirror debris

Lewis Hamilton’s puncture during the Qatar Grand Prix was not caused by debris from Valtteri Bottas striking a wing mirror, Mercedes has confirmed.

Hamilton and another driver suffered punctures shortly after Bottas hit the mirror, which had fallen from Alexander Albon’s car. Although race control issued yellow flags, they were withdrawn without recovering the debris, drawing criticism of FIA race director Rui Marques for not deploying a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car. Mercedes’ trackside engineering head, Andrew Shovlin, explained that data analysis revealed Hamilton’s front-left tyre began losing pressure before Bottas hit the mirror. "We can see from the video and on-car data that Lewis’s tyre started deflating prior to the mirror incident," Shovlin said, ruling out debris as the cause. This finding refutes initial assumptions and highlights the complexity of managing mid-race incidents effectively.