Hamilton thinks switching floors is a “good test”
Lewis Hamilton says that returning to an older W15 floor spec for the Azerbaijan GP weekend was “a good test” for his Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The newer floor was first seen in practice at Spa. However it was then taken off. George Russell and Hamilton duly finished the race first and second with the earlier floor, with the seven-times World Champion inheriting the win after his team mate was disqualified.
The new floor was used again at Zandvoort and Monza, with inconclusive results.
For Azerbaijan the team opted to return once more to the earlier version last raced in Belgium, and Hamilton was happy with it on Friday.
On Saturday Russell qualified fifth, with a frustrated Hamilton earning seventh after struggling to get his tyres into the optimum window.
The team subsequently decided to take a new PU and start him from the pitlane – which will also allow him to make setup changes that could improve the car in the race.
“P1 and p2 car felt amazing,” he said when asked by this writer about his progress. “And I was really on it from literally from lap one, competing at the front. Sometimes you wonder, when you get to a Saturday, whether the others were heavier on P1 and P2.
“But as I said, it felt great yesterday, and then as soon as we started today, I barely changed anything to the car because I didn’t want to mess anything up.
“And the tyres wouldn’t work all day, they’ve not worked. I think the last lap, the last sector, the tyres just started to work. We missed it earlier.”
Regarding the choice of the older floor he said: “I think very, very similar between the new one and the old one. So I think it was a good test for us to go back.
“We won on this floor before. It’s a bit older, so it’s a little bit heavier compared to a new floor. But I think it’s a good floor.”
However he stopped short of confirming that the newer version was key to the team’s recent struggles.
“We haven’t back-to-backed this weekend,” he noted. “So it’s difficult to say that that was the problem, because we’re in the same position we were in the last race.
“As I said, there’s not a big difference between the two, but the car was feeling great yesterday, it wasn’t today.”
Hamilton is cautious about prospects for what will be a tyre management race.
“We weren’t good last the last couple years, or at least the last year, with rear deg,” he said. “We will try to be better tomorrow, for sure. I really, really can’t say. I hope we’re stronger, but find out when we get to the race.”
Adam Cooper F1 