We are where we belong: Lewis Hamilton ruthless after Mercedes bankruptcy
Mercedes experienced another blow in the neck at the start of the Formula 1 weekend in Miami. George and Hamilton failed in sprint qualifying in Q2. After the slap, Hamilton didn’t even look for excuses, but instead came to a ruthless conclusion.
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“I have the feeling that we got everything out of our car. That’s just our pace. We have to accept that we are seven tenths of a second behind,” said the record world champion.
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Mercedes in the Miami midfield: balance is right, result is not
Over the past few weekends, setup experiments have often been cited as an explanation for poor results. There was no talk of this in Miami, although the upgrades that Mercedes brought to the track on a large scale and the sprint format would have given plenty of reason to blame a setup search.
But according to Hamilton, there was no problem with the car’s balance. “The car felt very good in training and it didn’t feel bad in sprint qualifying either,” he summarized. Hopes for the race are muted. “The sprint race will be tough. I don’t expect much from 12th place. Plus, it’s not easy to overtake and follow other cars on this track,” said Hamilton.
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Lewis Hamilton pessimistic: Are points even possible?
“We’ll just try to get into the points somehow, if we can,” are his small goals. George Russell’s outlook for the short race on Saturday sounded a little more optimistic. “I have no doubt that we will continue to sprint forward.” He starts in P11, just one position ahead of his teammate and compatriot.
However, he sees a need for action with a view to qualifying for the sixth Grand Prix of the 2024 Formula 1 season. “We have to get our qualifying problems under control. Because it is always difficult to fight with other cars when you start from behind “, he said.
Russell’s balance conclusion was similar to Hamilton’s: “In the soft tire felt good on our car, but on the medium tire in qualifying we couldn’t get our car into the sweet spot.”
Mercedes dead end: After the first training session things go downhill
What is particularly alarming for Mercedes is a well-known phenomenon this season: after a good start to the weekend in the first training session, there is no improvement in the following sessions. Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin also noted this: “Unfortunately, in the crucial session, we were unable to take the step that others were able to, as we have seen many times this year.”
The Silver Arrows still find a little consolation in the time table: the gaps were quite small in the first qualifying session of the weekend. P5 was only two tenths of a second away. Whether a comparison with RB driver Daniel Ricciardo and a gap of seven tenths to the top meets the demands of a team that once dominated is another matter.
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