Peter Windsor explains why Mercedes has ‘destroyed’ Lewis Hamilton after Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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The Sao Paulo Grand Prix was a weekend to forget for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes after they only just managed to score points following a tough afternoon for the seven-time world champion.

Hamilton was among the drivers that were most vocal about the bumps around the newly resurfaced Intelagos circuit, which appeared to be affecting the balance and handling more for Mercedes and Aston Martin.

Karun Chandhok thinks F1 should ‘ask for its money back’ after the resurfacing job at Intelagos appeared to produce more bumps than the previous year.

After finishing in P10, Hamilton branded his weekend as a “disaster” and that it was “the worst the car has ever been” over team radio, but praised his mechanics for their work in the pit stops.

Discussing his race on the Cameron CC podcast, Peter Windsor why he thinks Hamilton could have fought for the win had Mercedes not ‘destroyed’ his confidence.

Lewis Hamilton confidence ‘destroyed’ by Mercedes says Peter Windsor

It was the second difficult weekend for Hamilton during the run of triple headers, having crashed out in the opening laps of the race in Austin.

Windsor believes the poor ride quality affected Hamilton the most in Brazil during the challenging conditions, as it prevented him from exploiting his skillset in those conditions.

“In my opinion, Lewis could have driven that race in the right car. Because Lewis has spent so long in a bad car and because the Mercedes was so bad for him around Interlagos, he completely lost confidence and feel, and couldn’t drive anywhere near the same planet as Max,” said Windsor.

“But I think he alone has the natural talent to do what Max did, but that has been completely destroyed by Mercedes.”

Lewis Hamilton sent a three-word message to Max Verstappen after winning Sao Paulo Grand Prix

By contrast, Max Verstappen won the race from P17 on the grid after dropping out early in qualifying due to an unlucky red flag and a grid penalty for new power unit components.

Chandhok was very impressed by Verstappen’s drive, comparing it to Ayrton Senna’s at Donington in 1993 when he overtook the entire field in similar conditions.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Hamilton was on hand on social media after the race to send a message to Verstappen, branding his race an “amazing drive” in a comment on his Instagram page.

Verstappen now heads into the next race in Las Vegas with one hand on the title if he can beat rival Lando Norris in the race.