Six tenths in qualifying and a full thirty seconds within the race. Hamilton’s hole to his teammate in Jeddah was important 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 via clearly in Lewis Hamilton’s phrases after the race, as he didn’t disguise his frustration or concern, particularly as a result of, at current, he has no clear concepts on the right way to get well 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 guts of the matter: “There’s nothing constructive to take from at this time, simply Charles [Leclerc] ending on the rostrum, which is nice for the staff,” stated the Briton, clearly disheartened after a race that provided little for him.
“It was horrible, not pleasing in any respect. I used to be sliding all over the place. Within the first stint, I had loads of oversteer and the automobile simply wouldn’t flip, with huge degradation. Within the second stint, I discovered barely higher steadiness, however even then the tempo was utterly missing, so general it went fairly badly,” Lewis defined.
He had instantly gained a place on Carlos Sainz at first because of an incredible launch from his grid slot, shifting as much as sixth. From that time on, other than a superb protection towards Lando Norris that lasted a couple of laps — particularly via 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 sluggish to problem even the 2 Mercedes, regardless of the W16s struggling a noticeable drop in tyre efficiency.
The core subject 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 steadiness… I battle 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 hassle. I don’t understand how 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 habits and the traits of the facility unit, however he’s additionally tailored his driving fashion 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 quite a bit to see within the information. Truthfully, it doesn’t seem like there’s a large distinction. It’s simply that you simply’re slower within the corners,” Lewis Hamilton defined, stating how telemetry exhibits a transparent mid-corner pace deficit in comparison with Charles Leclerc.
“We now have barely completely different setups. I must see if possibly that’s the one the automobile prefers. And yeah, he and his facet of the storage are undoubtedly doing a greater job. In the intervening 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 at this time within the race… I actually gave it every thing, I attempted every thing, however the automobile simply didn’t wish to cooperate.” – the seven-time Formulation 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
