Hamilton in ‘trouble’ if the rain doesn’t arrive

Arriving at Hockenheim in the midst of a heat wave, Lewis Hamilton fears Mercedes are going to “be in trouble” if the forecast rain doesn’t arrive.

Mercedes’ run of eight successive race victories came to an end earlier this season when they lost the Austrian Grand Prix to Red Bull Racing.

It was Hamilton’s worst showing in an otherwise podium-filled season as the Brit was only P5 as the heat hampered Mercedes’ W10.

According to team boss Toto Wolff, their cooling system let them down as their tight package means the W10’s radiators aren’t big enough to cope with high temperatures.

And high temperatures are what has been forecast for this weekend’s German GP.

The drivers can expect the temperature to hover in the 30s on Friday and Saturday before the forecast cast drops it down into the 20s for Sunday’s 67-lap German GP.

Hamilton concedes that unless that rain arrives, Mercedes could be in for a difficult weekend.

“If it stays this hot we are going to struggle and be in trouble,” he told Reuters.

“There is not much we can do, it is a much bigger design issue when it gets hot which is not so easy to change.

“We are working towards it but it is very small steps and small increments which are not making a massive difference.

“It is definitely a good thing if it rains.”

Last yera Hamilton won the German GP starting from P14 on the grid, helped to the victory when Sebastian Vettel crashed in the rain.

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