Lewis Hamilton admitted he was surprised to find himself finishing the British GP in the same eighth place that he started from, after McLaren struggled to find enough pace over the course of the afternoon.
In fact both Lewis and 10th placed Jenson Button were lucky to even make the points, as they both benefited from the Perez/Maldonado clash and Kamui Kobayashi’s pit stop drama.
“It was a disappointing day in the sense that we could have gone further forward, and I wish we could have done more for the fans, and given them even more of a result,” said Hamilton. “And I pushed as hard as I could, I was flat out right to the end. For some reason I didn’t have any speed.
“We have to have a balance to make the tyres last, and I think the balance was not so bad, because I was in the lead at one point, I was the only one who hadn’t pitted, but after that we just didn’t have the pace of the others. They continue to improve. We thought we were going to do better here this weekend, with the downforce package, but obviously not.
“I pushed every single lap, raced my heart out as always, and we just struggled today. Just didn’t have enough speed in general. Jenson seems to have made some places, but I was surprised to see myself go back to where I started, considering I’d made such improvements going longer, particularly in the first stint.
“I’m not really understanding why we weren’t able to maintain it. I was sliding everywhere. The car doesn’t feel terrible, but theirs [Red Bull/Ferrari] must be awesome for them to pull out the gaps that they are.”
Hamilton says that the championship isn’t lost yet, but made it clear that he’s worried about the team’s form.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s that close, but we’re still in the fight. But unless we find a lot of time, it’s going to be hard to stay in the fight.”
Adam Cooper F1 