Tag Archives: Lewis Hamilton

August 28, 2025 · 3:46 pm

Why Hamilton is determined to “have some fun” and turn his F1 season around

The Ferrari driver wasn’t happy in Hungary – but he’s made the most of the summer break

Lewis Hamilton ended the first half of his maiden season with Scuderia Ferrari on a low with a frustrating weekend in Hungary that saw him publicly express doubts about his own ability.

The timing was unfortunate given that he then headed into the three-week break with his head clearly in a bad place. There was a long wait until the next race, and a chance to try and move things on.

On the plus side he used the summer shutdown part of the gap to in his words be “completely unplugged”. He returned to Maranello at the start of this week to dig through the data with his engineers and prepare for the second half of the season.

He is of course keen to have something of a reset and turn things around from this weekend onwards.

“I feel determined to and motivated to, yes,” he said in Zandvoort on Thursday. “We’re going to work hard, keep our heads down, try to change a few things in our approach and start to enjoy ourselves. It’s been so much pressure in this first half of the season.

“It’s not been the most enjoyable. So I think just remembering that we love what we do, we’re all in this together, and yeah, trying to have some fun.”

Pushed on that intriguing aspect of having fun and enjoying what he’s doing he made some interesting observations that can be applied to all of us.

“I think it’s probably the most important part,” he said. “Because that’s the reason I got into this sport, that it was fun for me.

“And I think for anyone who in whatever career you’re in, if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, then why are you doing it? And there can often be so much noise, you can lose sight of what’s really, really important.

“So that’s what I’m saying, I just really want to focus on getting back to that enjoyment. I joined the team that I’ve always dreamed of driving for and there’s been so much noise around that it’s kind of clouded us from getting to enjoy it.

“So now it’s about kind of moving those things aside, and just getting back to focusing on the pure love of what we do.”

There has been plenty to distract him thus far. Asked about his earlier reference to pressure he mentioned the workload that he’s faced in his new job.

“I think ultimately, just to get on top of everything, the amount of work we have, all the new partners, the amount of shoots we’ve done, getting integrated into a new team.

“And it’s a big, big team, and it’s also the biggest brand in our sport as well. So a combination of all those different things has been it’s been a lot.”

It’s a difficult process. How do you balance driver having to adapt to his new team versus the other way around? Hamilton admits that it’s not easy.

“I think it’s a very fine line,” he said. “I think my approach this year was really to adapt as much as I could to how they work, rather than arrive and say you have to change everything, and get a perspective of how they like to work.

“And then just try to then bring my experience to see how we can make those bits even better. But it’s a fine line, for sure.”

Asked if he’d experienced similar difficult times with an F1 car he made it clear that it was nothing new for him.

“I never just got in and just won,” he said. “There were always difficult times. I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to get complacent, and be comfortable.

“And that’s really kind of where I was with a long-term relationship I had before, and taking this step into a team that I truly believe in, and I still believe in the potential here and what we can achieve together, and I think everyone in the team does.

“But no one succeeds without going through those tough patches. So I do welcome it. Look forward to the sunnier days, for sure.”

Whatever happens this weekend in Zandvoort the real test will come at Monza next weekend, and his first Italian GP in red.

“I’ve not really thought about it, to be honest,” he said. “Trying to take it one day at a time. I don’t really know what to expect. Obviously, what I saw in Imola was incredible. And I have obviously been to Monza and seen how Ferrari has been received there, and I’m always excited to see the tifosi.

“The support this team has around the world from the tifosi is unmatched. I’m sure it’ll be a unique experience.”

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July 31, 2025 · 7:25 am

How new Vasseur contract gives Ferrari and Hamilton breathing space

Any doubts over Vasseur’s future at Maranello have been ended by a new deal

Ferrari has created some crucial stability and put a stop to any suggestions that Christian Horner might end up at Maranello by giving team principal Fred Vasseur a new multi-year contract.

There had been speculation in recent months that Vasseur’s future was under threat after a disappointing start to 2025.

The team has not won a race this season, and failed to build on the momentum it had at the end of last year.

Meanwhile new recruit Lewis Hamilton has yet to log a podium as he struggles to come to terms with a very different car.

The gossip about Vasseur did not sit well with Lewis Hamilton, who stressed that he joined the Scuderia because of the presence of his former F3/GP2 boss.

In truth both men deserve to be judged on 2026, with Vasseur having spent the last few years putting the pieces in place and Hamilton currently working hard to ensure that he’s in a much happier place with the car.

It’s worth remembering that he underwent a similar process in his first year at Mercedes in 2013, ahead of the introduction of the new rules.

This would not be the right time to rock the boat with yet another change of team boss, something that Ferrari has ultimately recognised.

“I’m grateful for the trust Ferrari continues to place in me,” said the Frenchman. “This renewal is not just a confirmation — it’s a challenge to keep progressing, to stay focused, and to deliver.

“Over the past 30 months, we’ve laid strong foundations, and now we must build on them with consistency and determination. We know what’s expected, and we’re all fully committed to meeting those expectations and taking the next step forward together.”

Ferrari says that “renewing Fred’s contract reflects Ferrari’s determination to build on the foundations laid so far. His ability to lead under pressure, embrace innovation, and pursue performance aligns fully with Ferrari’s values and long-term ambitions.”

It adds that “under Fred’s leadership, Scuderia Ferrari HP is united, focused, and committed to continuous improvement. The trust placed in him reflects the team’s confidence in its strategic direction and reinforces a shared determination to deliver the results that Ferrari’s fans, drivers, and team members expect and deserve.”

Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, the man who pushed to get Hamilton on board, made clear his support.

“Today we want to recognise what has been built and commit to what still needs to be achieved,” he said. “It reflects our trust in Fred’s leadership — a trust rooted in shared ambition, mutual expectations and clear responsibility.

“We move forward with determination and focus, united in our pursuit of the level of performance Ferrari has to aim for.”

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May 22, 2025 · 5:17 pm

Why Monaco will be a test of Hamilton’s Ferrari learning curve

Can Hamilton build on his promising Imola race? [Pic: @tinnekephotography]

Lewis Hamilton was in upbeat mood on Sunday at Imola after his charge from 12th on the grid to fourth at the flag, and he was particularly happy with how he felt at one with the Ferrari SF-25 on the medium tyres.

There have been other sparks of hope in recent weeks, notably of course the Shanghai sprint, but also the odd race stint elsewhere.

The question now is can that Imola performance translate to Monaco and other upcoming races?

Lewis and the team did their best to ensure that it does by taking advantage of the track’s proximity to Maranello. The day after the race – and before he headed home to Monaco – he was hard at work in the factory, punching the numbers with his engineers, and seeing what could be learned.

“I was in the simulator on Monday,” he said when I asked him on Thursday if he had done a deep dive into the Imola data in search of answers. “I was there nice and early Monday morning.

“It’s really incredible to see. Probably people don’t realise, but the engineers and mechanics, it does not stop.

“They go straight from the track, you go home Sunday night and they’re in the factory the next day. It just does not stop, they’re churning through the data.

“Yes, there’s lots of, lots of positives, as we said last weekend to take from it. There’s still areas that we need to improve on.

“Clearly, our qualifying has been our biggest weakness so far this year. We’re not extracting the performance from the tyres, and that’s something we are working on.”

Time is of the essence, and as each race weekend goes by so team and driver get to know each other better and have more opportunity to try stuff.

“I had some ideas, the team had some ideas,” said Lewis. “And so we’ll try those this weekend. It’s not the best place to try those things, but we will try to make a step, and qualifying, as you know, is everything here.

“It’s a natural progression. I’m feeling more at home in the team. Things work differently here. They’ve never had anyone like me here, and so it’s been challenging on both sides, but we’re really finding harmony, I think, in the way that we’re moving forwards.”

The learning process is ongoing. Hamilton may have done seven races with Ferrari already, but Monaco is a law unto itself, and this is his first time here with the red car.

“I’m still in that first year with this team, every weekend is something new, like the last weekend was the first time I’ve been into the European races, seeing the truck, finding my room, getting accustomed to a new layout.

“And this weekend, walking into the garage, it’s all red, and that’s the first time I’ve been in Monaco.

“I’ve never been in the Ferrari garage at Monaco, always walked past it, always wondered what it like to be in the team. Still having to pinch myself – it’s awesome.

“And I have for years always wondered what a Ferrari would feel like around this track. Even my first year, I think the Ferraris were very strong, Felipe and Kimi were very strong. And obviously Charles in the last few years has been rapid here.

“You can see the car works a lot different to what I had driven in the past. How that will reflect this weekend, I don’t know. I’m definitely excited to experience it.”

Meanwhile like other drivers Lewis has to adapt to the new two-stop tyre regulations in place this weekend.

“I think it’s good to try something different,” he said. “You keep doing the same thing over and over and over, you can get the same result. And so I think it’s cool that they’re trying something different.

“Whether or not it’s the answer, we’ll find out this weekend, it’s definitely going to be different to what we’ve had in the past. Whether that’s better I have no idea, I can’t predict. But I like that we have something different.”

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May 19, 2025 · 7:44 am

How Hamilton turned his Imola F1 weekend around

Hamilton got a great reception from fans [Pic: @tinnekephotography]

It’s not been easy few first months at Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton, and finishing qualifying at his first home race for the team in Imola in only 12th place was not what he envisaged when he signed up.

However on Sunday he turned it around with a superb performance, starting on the hard tyres and taking advantage of good strategy calls to climb up to fourth.

With the safety car having bunched up the field in the closing laps he even had an eye on the third placed McLaren of Oscar Piastri up ahead, but despite being on older tyres the Aussie remained out of reach.

The China sprint win was an obvious high for Hamilton in the first part of the season, and there have been odd stints elsewhere when he felt at one with the car, but it hasn’t happened very often.

On race day at Imola things came together for him, and now it will be intriguing to see if it really is a turning point as he continues to build up his knowledge of the car and the team.

“China was pretty great, but I would say this one was better,” he said. “I’ve always loved when you’re fighting from further back and coming through, that’s how I started off as a kid, around Rye House.

“It’s such a better feeling than starting first and finishing first, but definitely an absolutely mega race, and so many positives to take.

“There are tons of positives to take from today. One is the strategy was really fantastic today, they made great calls, didn’t put a foot wrong there.

“China, I felt really aligned with the car. And then the only other time is this today, like I felt that real synergy. And I think the setup was great. I think we made a bit of an improvement in our performance for the race.

“We’ve just got to unlock the potential in qualifying. Now, if we had qualified better, we would have been fighting for a podium, which is something we didn’t think would be possible.”

Could he really have challenged Piastri?

“I think I needed probably another five laps, something like that, to have really got close enough to really challenge. That McLaren’s still damn fast on old tyres!”

Nevertheless he raced plenty of other people, and made a few passes, including jumping team mate Charles Leclerc when he got tangled up with Alex Albon.

It was very different to Shanghai, where he started at the front and held on to win.

“Just the whole thing was entertaining,” he said. “Obviously, at the beginning, it wasn’t spectacular. I got a decent start. Kind of got squeezed and then lost ground to a Mercedes [Kimi Antonelli] that had the hard tyres. And then I was just sitting there waiting.

“Definitely had to be patient, just breathe. And then bit by bit, strategy started to plan out, and the car really came alive when I got into the medium tyres. And a great call at the end to switch.”

Imola was of course Hamilton’s first proper encounter with the tifosi since he switched teams, and it was clear that he enjoyed it.

At the end of Sunday’s driver parade lap both he and team mate Charles Leclerc stepped off the flatbed truck at the start of the pit straight to greet the crowd.

Lewis got a great reception, and after the flag he dedicated his feisty race – albeit to a humble fourth in the grand scheme of things – to the fans.

“It’s been incredible,” he said when I asked him about the love he’d received. “What an amazing experience. Already just on the drivers’ parade lap, all the drivers were all doing their normal talking, but I really wanted to see what… I even took a picture where there’s a memorial of Ayrton, I was just taking pictures, film, of the crowd, and just a sea of red everywhere.

“And it was just really reminiscent of when I was growing up, watching sitting at home on my couch having a bacon sarnie, watching Michael Schumacher here racing with Ferrari, and seeing the connection he had with the crowd.

“It’s quite an incredible experience to think that I’m now here in one of the two Ferraris having that connection with such a large, passionate group of people. It’s unbelievable.”

At Silverstone he always finds a little extra, so was it a similar feeling?

“Yeah, it’s definitely like that. I mean, the love that the Italian fans have. Silverstone, it’s a connection more so with me, being a Brit, which is super special, and I love it.

“This one’s like, good to see how passionate you get for Ferrari, I guess it doesn’t matter who’s in it. They just love to see the red car. It’s like the red car comes and they get so excited! It’s amazing to see. It’s really cool.”

Attention now turns to Monaco, where Hamilton has had some great days in the past, and where Ferrari has been quick in recent times.

Lewis doesn’t know what to expect, but the car’s inherent weakness in qualifying won’t help.

“Just every race I go to is the first time with this car,” he said. “So I really have no idea what Ferrari feels like.

“The races that are coming up, particularly Monaco, a track where they’ve generally been strong in the past, I hope we can take some of the learnings from this weekend in the car and apply it. I’m really hopeful we can.

“It will still be a question about getting the tyres working on a single lap. If we can figure that out next week, then I think we could be in a good position.”

Despite his strong recent record Leclerc is not optimistic, especially given the aforementioned qualifying weakness.

“I’m not sure either to be honest,” said Hamilton. “We’ve been struggling, particularly on a single lap. So I don’t know how that’s going to go. I’ve got some ideas of that I’m going to try and apply next week that people have been a little bit reluctant to do it, I think because we’ve had lots of other things to focus on.

“But I’m hoping next week we can find something to unlock some more performance. I really don’t know how this car’s going to be.

“I think our car is generally not as good in high-speed, okay in medium, and maybe a little bit not as strong as the others in low, and obviously the next race is all low, so we’ll see how we can try and pull some more out of it next week.”

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May 18, 2025 · 7:33 am

“Gutted” Hamilton calls for more Ferrari upgrades after missing Q3

Hamilton is urging Ferrari to find performance [Pic: @tinnekephotography]

Lewis Hamilton’s first appearance for the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team in front of an Italian crowd was always going to be special, and which makes a below par performance for the home outfit at Imola even more painful.

Hamilton could manage only 12th in Q2, and it was of little comfort that his team mate Charles Leclerc was only one place and just 0.161s ahead.

The double frustration for Hamilton was that for once he felt comfortable in the car – the speed just simply wasn’t there.

After qualifying he called for more updates for the SF-25, while also stressing that for him that this is a “foundation building” year ahead of 2026.

“I definitely feel devastated, I feel just gutted I guess, because the car was generally feeling really good,” he said.

“I honestly felt like the setup was just right, the brakes were working, everything was kind of in place, and we just can’t go quicker.

“If you look how quick Max is going through Turn 2 and 3, we just can’t match it. And when we put that new soft on at the end, for some reason, it just didn’t come alive. There was no extra grip.”

He added: “I just I really thought we were going to be getting through. I thought the car’s alive, and watching these guys doing 14.7s. We could just get to 15.7, it’s a lot of time missing.”

Lewis insisted that the car felt better to drive after his recent struggles, even if the pace was missing.

“I think we made progress this weekend with the bit that I was talking about before,” he said.

“It’s still not where it needs to be. And there’s performance in that. And we need more upgrades for sure. We’ve got to start adding performance to this car.

“Clearly, we’re not at the level. I mean, look at Max’s rear, it just doesn’t move. He’s doing, like, I don’t know, like 6-10kph faster through Turn 2 than us, and we can’t match that. Same with the McLarens.

“So we just got to keep pushing, keep applying pressure. I believe that the guys can find some performance.”

However time is running out as every team turns its full R&D focus towards 2026 – and Hamilton himself is also eyeing next season.

“I think this is at least from my side, this is a foundation building year,” he said. “And getting to grips with everything within the team, making changes that are needed in order to help the team navigate to success long term.

“That’s stuff that I’m focused on. In the background, there’s a lot of improvements we can make across the board, as well as a faster car. I have all the faith and beliefs we can do that.”

In the meantime he has a race to do at Imola on Sunday. Ferrari has better long run pace than qualifying performance, but actually using it and passing people won’t be easy.

“This is not a great race circuit to great circuit to race on,” Lewis said when I asked about race form. “It’s great to drive a single lap, but overtaking, you get stuck in a DRS train, and there’s not going to be a lot of movement tomorrow.

“But we are all on softer tyres, and see what we can do strategy-wise. We’ll try and pick them off if we can. I feel like race pace could be good.”

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November 25, 2024 · 2:46 pm

Wolff: Cold Las Vegas helped to put Mercedes W15 in “sweet spot”

Wolff says that Mercedes has to learn lessons from Las Vegas

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says that the cold conditions in Las Vegas put the W15 in a “sweet spot” that allowed George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to secure a surprise one-two finish.

In addition the team managed to avoid the tyre graining that hampered the race of main rivals Ferrari.

Russell won from pole, while Hamilton was able to charge through the field from 10th on the grid.

“It’s cold,” said Wolff when asked about the team’s strong form. “I think clearly you can correlate where we’ve been strong. We’ve been strong in Silverstone, we’ve been strong in Spa, and then here in Las Vegas.

“And I think it’s just keeping the car in its sweet spot, the tyres in the optimum window. It clearly shows that the car can be very, very quick.

“We were two seconds quicker than our competition at times when George was pushing, and for the rest of the day, he was just managing his pace.”

Wolff acknowledged that avoiding graining was a key factor in the race.

“It’s strange,” he said. “We were capable of pushing whenever we wanted to, and there was no graining appearing, neither on the medium, nor on the hard.

“You could see Charles [Leclerc] attempted a few times to put pressure on George, which he defended great. I don’t know what the outcome would have been of that, but the driving was exceptional.

“And Leclerc after a few laps couldn’t hold the pace, fell off. We didn’t hit a single sign of graining, nor degradation.”

Wolff had an intriguing theory about why things worked out for Mercedes: “It kind of spirals into the bad zone, if you break traction, and then it’s hot. You kind of swing out of the window all the time.

“And when you break traction here, that was actually helpful to keep the temperature at the time. So clearly, there is a pattern that some teams really love the cold, and extract a lot of performance.

“And there are some teams that have been so strong when it was hot – in Singapore, the McLarens, for example – and then they have dominated in the way that they just controlled it in the way they wanted. So it would be important to find a balance for next year.”

He added: “This one is a really important result, because you have fluctuations over the weekend, and then normally you can say we’ve been good here, then we’ve been not too good in that session.

“But here, every single session, we were ahead. So lots of good data that allow us to say, well, at least we know where the sweet spot is, this is where we need to be, and then trying to find out how we can get that target more often.”

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November 24, 2024 · 6:22 pm

Hamilton: Charge to P2 was “one of the most enjoyable races”

Hamilton managed to charge from 10th to second in Las Vegas

Lewis Hamilton says that he had “one of the most enjoyable races” as he charged from 10th on the grid to second in Las Vegas after a frustrating qualifying session on Friday.

Hamilton didn’t set a competitive time in Q3 after making mistakes on both of his runs with what was a difficult car, stranding him in P10.

By the second round of stops he’d worked his way up to seventh, and then he spent the last stint chasing Mercedes team mate and race leader George Russell.

“Great, great performance,” he said. “It’s not that I didn’t think I could do it. So, yeah, I’ve had many races like this, but I’m generally happy to have had the recovery.

“It’s a new day and I just tried to approach it with a positive mindset, and to be able to have a car underneath me today, and be able to push and overtake people, was such a great feeling.

“That was honestly one of the most enjoyable races. Yeah, if I’d started pole and just led all the way, it wouldn’t have felt as much fun, for sure.

“Of course, winning a Grand Prix is always a great thing, but when whoever it is faces adversity and has to battle through, it just feels so much better when you do succeed.”

Asked about what might have been had he not had a difficult Q3 Hamilton downplayed any frustration.

“It doesn’t really matter, really, does it?,” he said. “At the end of the day, George did a great job, did everything he was supposed to do, and I’m happy for him and I’m just grateful I could get back up there to support the team with a 1-2.

“I had a great time. When you’re progressing and moving forward, it’s always a great feeling. It felt very much like my old days at Rye House, starting at the back and coming through, so it was great.”

He added: “We got a really good balance in the car today. It felt a lot better than it was yesterday, particularly Q3 yesterday. But yeah, just phenomenal for the team.”

Hamilton says he doesn’t know how the car will perform in the final races.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I don’t think anyone in the team knows why we were as quick as we were this weekend. And everyone will be happy about it. But I think often in the hotter conditions, we struggle more.

“Maybe Qatar is not so bad because it’s a little bit cooler there. And the track is very smooth. So maybe we’ll not be too bad at that track. I think we were OK there last year. Abu Dhabi, maybe less so. But we’ll see.”

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November 22, 2024 · 8:35 pm

Wolff: Title drought won’t take shine off Hamilton era at Mercedes

Wolff says the bigger picture of success is what counts Picture: @tinnekephotography

Toto Wolff says that a three-year title drought for Mercedes will not overshadow the earlier successes achieved by the team during the Lewis Hamilton era.

The Brackley team won seven drivers’ championships from 2014 to 2020, with Hamilton earning six of them and Nico Rosberg winning one.

The team also took the constructors’ title in each of those years, plus an eighth in 2021.

However under the current regulations the team has failed to repeat that dominance and has only rarely had a car that was capable of winning races.

Despite that Wolff says that the bigger picture is what counts.

“It’s the most competitive motorsport in the world and we were lucky and blessed with winning eight consecutive World Championship titles,” said Wolff. “That wasn’t done before in any other sport.

“And Lewis won [six] drivers’ championships. You cannot extrapolate from that that you’re going to win forever, or that you’re in the hunt for every single championship. That doesn’t happen.

“And the regs were changed twice and we maintained the level of performance and won championships. And then we’ve just been caught out by these new regulations in 2022.

“Until today, we’re just not able to put steady performance on the car and provide the drivers with something that is predictable, that has enough downforce, that doesn’t bounce or hop, that rides where the ride is acceptable, where the tyre degradation can be managed in the right way and not be too cold or too hot. And that is how sport goes.”

Wolff also made a comparison with an all-time great of the basketball world.

“Michael Jordan played 12 seasons or whatever, he won six championships… Were the other six a failure? And I think we’ve been together 12 years now in this championship and we won eight. Are the other ones a failure?

“We finished third two years ago, we finished second last year, bearing in mind we haven’t won a race, and we won three this year. So that is not all a failure.

“That was a pretty good spell for Mercedes and for Lewis. And we will be trying to do it better. We are trying to do it better every single day, every single weekend. And the same will be next season, and then the big one in ‘26.”

Wolff indicated that it hasn’t really hit home that Hamilton will be leaving the team in the coming weeks.

“There is no overwhelming emotion now that this is ending, but I’m sure the closer it’s going to come to Abu Dhabi and the last sessions, the last race together will be quite a thing, because we had this wonderful partnership for such a long time.

“But having said that, Lewis is not going to disappear. Lewis is going to be on the grid next year with a Ferrari. We are not losing the person, we are just losing the driver. But we embark on a new future.

“We have an 18-year-old and a 27-year-old that are going to be our drivers. And that is super exciting. And at the same time, personally, we wish Lewis all the best and happiness. And maybe a car that’s not so fast! But nevertheless, it is a decision he took. And we’re OK with that.”

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October 28, 2024 · 8:50 pm

Hamilton on a clean fight with Russell: “I don’t think either of us are silly…”

Hamilton enjoyed a “fun” fight with team mate Russell

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell showed how to do it when they enjoyed a clean fight for position in the Formula 1 Mexico City GP, and while the rules of engagement are different for team mates, they had been told that they were free to race.

Hamilton got ahead of Russell at the start, but the latter managed to repass on lap 15.

Despite being hampered by front wing damage Russell held on in front until Hamilton got by again in the closing laps as they claimed fourth and fifth places at the flag.

Hamilton was running the latest floor, and Russell the earlier version, and they finished just 3.7s apart.

The fact that they spent time following each other gave both men a chance to assess the behaviour of the other car.

“I mean, it’s pretty straightforward,” said Hamilton when I asked him about the battle.

“I don’t think either of us are silly. George is really smart, and so it’s fair, and he’s just really good at where he places his car. And I think for me too.

“So when they come on the radio and say, ‘Keep it clean,’ it’s like, ‘Of course!’ It’s no real different to when you’re fighting anyone else, except for it is your team mate. So had to be double careful, because you both want to finish.”

Hamilton said he enjoyed the fight, although life was tough for him until he was able to make a wing adjustment at his pit stop.

“I had fun today,” he said. “Had a good start, had a really bad stint, took too much front wing out the car. Had massive, massive understeer. I was like, damn! Because you have to basically guesstimate where you’re going to be with the front wing. And I had a lot less than George.

“For the laps to the grid, it felt like it was the right thing, and it was clearly not. Then after my stop, I was able to rectify it. And then after that, I had much better pace, and was able to push and keep going.

“And we stopped a little bit early as well, compared to what I planned to stop. And we got good points.”

Hamilton acknowledged that Russell didn’t make it easy for him to pass: “He didn’t! But I had 10 laps. I knew it was going to happen at some point. I think he had a problem with his front wing.

“But we got a lot of information. I could see on his car where he was better than me, and I’m sure, hopefully, be able to see where he’s better than me, package-wise. And hopefully they have lots of data, so we’ll figure out who starts on what next race.”

Regarding the debate about guidelines in Friday’s drivers’ briefing Hamilton said: “They spoke about it for a long time, with no conclusion. I think they said they’re going to sit down in one of the races coming up to talk about how we can go about making it better.”

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October 27, 2024 · 10:38 am

Hamilton left confused as Mercedes W15 performance “flips on its head”

Hamilton was frustrated by the W15’s change of behaviour

Lewis Hamilton was left confused as the behaviour of his Formula 1 Mercedes W15 changed from FP3 to qualifying at Mexico City GP, leaving him sixth on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Having given his car to Kimi Antonelli for FP1 on Friday Hamilton noted after FP2 that he needed “more rear.”

He was happier with the car in FP3 and added a bigger wing in search of downforce, but then found himself losing performance in qualifying. He lines up on the grid behind team mate George Russell, who still has the old floor.

“P3 felt decent, it felt like we were on the right track,” said Hamilton when asked by this writer about his progress.

“So I decided not to make any changes. All we did is put the wing on, and I was like, let’s leave it there. There’s not really a lot we could do in setup changes to progress the car forwards. The performance is where it is.

“Then we got into qualifying, and I had no rear. It’s just like, it flips on its head. It’s a very strange thing with a car.

“We definitely took a good step in FP3 I thought, at least in balance. But we were still six-tenths off the cars ahead. We put the bigger wing on to try and get more downforce, and it just went slower.”

Hamilton acknowledged that the car getting worse from Friday to Saturday has been a regular theme: “The same as every single race I’ve had this year.”

He acknowledged that the W15 remains tricky to drive, as evidenced by George Russell’s crash on Friday.

“We have three-wheeling, and the ride height is moving 15mm, something like that, up and down. And when it does that, it shits the bed, basically!”

With Russell running the old spec floor Hamilton acknowledged that the team will gather some useful information in what is in effect a back-to-back test.

“I will be interesting for us to get a reading, because obviously I’m on the upgraded car, which should be quicker, but I don’t think it is.

“We’ll get lots of data tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll compete with the guys ahead, just too fast. Just see how it goes. I just want to go to the end of the race, at least this time.”

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