Six tenths in qualifying and a full thirty seconds within the race. Hamilton’s hole to his teammate in Jeddah was vital and uncovered the challenges he’s dealing with — difficulties that aren’t restricted to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, however have prolonged throughout the latest races. The triple-header exterior Europe has introduced little satisfaction.
That disappointment got here by clearly in Lewis Hamilton’s phrases after the race, as he didn’t cover his frustration or concern, particularly as a result of, at current, he has no clear concepts on the best way to get better the lacking tenths to shut in on Charles Leclerc — solely hypotheses, circling round with out decision.
It was no shock, then, that in interviews Hamilton opened with a really blunt message that went straight to the center of the matter: “There’s nothing optimistic to take from as we speak, simply Charles [Leclerc] ending on the rostrum, which is nice for the workforce,” stated the Briton, clearly disheartened after a race that supplied little for him.
“It was horrible, not pleasant in any respect. I used to be sliding in every single place. Within the first stint, I had lots of oversteer and the automobile simply wouldn’t flip, with large degradation. Within the second stint, I discovered barely higher stability, however even then the tempo was utterly missing, so total it went fairly badly,” Lewis defined.
He had instantly gained a place on Carlos Sainz initially due to an excellent launch from his grid slot, shifting as much as sixth. From that time on, apart from a superb protection in opposition to Lando Norris that lasted a number of laps — particularly by managing DRS — Lewis Hamilton couldn’t discover a higher rhythm, remaining caught in no man’s land.
He was too quick for the midfield runners behind him however, sadly, additionally too gradual to problem even the 2 Mercedes, regardless of the W16s struggling a noticeable drop in tyre efficiency.
The core challenge is that, though Lewis Hamilton admitted he was struggling in medium-to-high-speed corners — notably the place confidence within the automobile is essential at nook entry — he additionally had no concrete explanations for his issues.
“I don’t have a solution. I’m struggling. The stability… I wrestle to really feel the automobile beneath me. However yeah, there’s nothing particular. There’s nothing that makes you say: ‘That’s the issue.’”
“Even in Miami, I believe I’ll be in bother. I don’t know the way for much longer I’ll maintain struggling, however it’s undoubtedly irritating,” he added, earlier than drawing comparisons with Leclerc. The Monegasque clearly has deeper data of the Ferrari’s conduct and the traits of the ability unit, however he’s additionally tailored his driving type to extract essentially the most from the SF-25.
“Nicely, I imply, he [Leclerc] has been driving this automobile for a very long time, so he undoubtedly is aware of it very properly. There’s lots to see within the knowledge. Actually, it doesn’t appear like there’s a large distinction. It’s simply that you just’re slower within the corners,” Lewis Hamilton defined, stating how telemetry reveals a transparent mid-corner velocity deficit in comparison with Charles Leclerc.
“Now we have barely totally different setups. I must see if possibly that’s the one the automobile prefers. And yeah, he and his aspect of the storage are undoubtedly doing a greater job. In the mean time, there’s no answer. It’ll be like this for the remainder of the yr. It’s going to be painful. In qualifying it’s about extracting all of the potential, and as we speak within the race… I actually gave it all the pieces, I attempted all the pieces, however the automobile simply didn’t need to cooperate.” – the seven-time System 1 world champion concluded on the finish of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Purchase official Ferrari F1 merchandise!
Let different Scuderia Followers find out about us
