Lewis Hamilton: “When we did strategy I told the guys it won’t go as far as they said”
The s꧑even-time world champion endured his worst start to a season since 2014, finishing a disဣtant fifth.
Following 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc’s retirement, a potential podium finish was on the cards, but Hamilton lost out to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fernando Alonso, and then couldn’t overtake 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Carlos Sainz.
Unlike in 2022, Mercedes struggled for race pace, particularly with the rear tyres - an area Red Bull and Aston Martin appear to have excelle♎d in.
Speaking 🀅after the race, Hamilton revealed that he questioned Mercedes’ strategy about how long the tyres could go givꦓen their troubles with degradation.
“It generally felt the same as last year,” said Hamilton. “When we did the strategy in the morning I told the guys it wasn’t going to go as far as t🅷hey said it was going to go, and it didn’t.
“We have just got a lot of work to do. We have just got to add downforce to the car♌, we’re lacking a lot of downforce. That is r🌄eally where the time will come. As soon as we put more load on the rear and the front we’ll pick up that pace.”
Ha🐟milton believes the result flattered Mercedes given Leclerc’s DNF, when in reality they should have finished sixth and eighth.
“We were miles away,” he said. “There was a Ferrari that would’ve been ahead of him [Alonso], so we would’ve really been si🔜xth. So a podium was nowhere near."
He said about Aston Martin, Mercedes' customer team: “We’ve got work to do, bec🅰ause half of their car is ours, and they built their car in our wind tunnel, they do their aero in our wind tunnel, so we’ve got some work to do. Concerned wouldn’t be the word.There is nothing I can say, I don’t want to say too much. We’ve just got to keep working.
“We know we are not where we need to be, and we know that this isn’t t♏he right 🗹car. It is a difficult one.
“But I’ve just got to try and stay positive, keep my head up and keep pushing the guys. K﷽eep trying to be a positive light for t😼hem and get the best points I can.”
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the h🃏earꦓtbeat of our unbiased reporting.
