Martin Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton didn’t do anything wrong as he crashed out of the US Grand Prix on Sunday night.
The Mercedes star endured a terrible weekend as Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen all secured spots on the podium.
Hamilton was the only DNF during the big event at the Circuit of America, with the veteran spinning off into the gravel trap at the penultimate corner of the third lap.
Yet Brundle has absolved the 39-year-old of blame and insisted there was nothing he could do about the incident.
“Nothing he could do about that, just turned in normally,” he said on commentary for Sky Sports.
“[He] just turned in normally and he simply hadn’t got enough rear grip.”
Hamilton’s failure to finish the US Grand Prix comes after team-mate George Russell lost control of his vehicle in qualifying.
Reflecting on the disappointing day, Hamilton said: “I had a great start, was feeling good and got up to 12th.
“It was the best start that I’ve had at turn one in a long time.
“I wasn’t even pushing at that point; I was literally just trying to get going and bringing the tyres up to temperature.
“The car started bouncing, the left front started bouncing and the rear end just came round.
“It was the same as George yesterday.”
Hamilton also admitted Mercedes would investigate the issue as they look to end the season on a high.
The Silver Arrows star added: “In P1 I had the same thing.
“I had the spin in Turn 3, which is so rare. I have never spun in Turn 3 in all the years I’ve been here.
“I was just saying about George obviously having the same problem yesterday, he has gone back to the old-spec car and is looking good out there, so maybe there is something with the new upgrade.
“We will investigate as much as we can, and after today we will get the data and see if we are going to be on the old or the new spec next week.”
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff, meanwhile, was unhappy after the race.
And he’s insisted it was a car issue, rather than a problem with their drivers, that contributed to their frustrating weekend.
The Austrian said: “[It was] 100 per cent the car.
“He wasn’t even pushing at that stage. We seen it with George yesterday who was pushing it but still, we definitely have an issue.”
Hamilton will be hoping to bounce back when the Mexican Grand Prix takes place next Sunday (8pm).