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Baku F1 deficit “indicator” of how far off Mercedes is
While Hamilton wasn’t too upset to finish fifth in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, the nearly one-second gap to pole-sitter Charles Leclerc was an eye-opener.
Hamilton said Azerbaijan had exposed the scale of work Mercedes needed to put in, given the size of the top speed advantage Red Bull had, and how quick Ferrari was in the middle.
Speed trap figures for the top car on the start and finish lines showed Max Verstappen hitting 339.1km/h in qualifying despite Mercedes introducing a revised rear wing endplate to reduce drag , Hamilton reached 335.5 km/h.
Speaking about Mercedes’ change of form after taking on Red Bull in Australia, Hamilton said: “I knew the Red Bulls were going to be super fast, but I didn’t realize we would have such a huge gap on the straights.
“But it’s a good indicator. We’re slower on the straights, slower in the middle, so we have a lot of work to do to correct the problem on the car.
“It’s not the easiest to drive. I’m happy to be in the third row and I hope we have a better fight tomorrow.”
Hamilton felt it was possible to enjoy stronger qualifying, but he was never fully satisfied with the car.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG
Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures
“We’re doing everything we can, giving it our all,” he said. “On this track, it’s not easy to just take your timing and get into a rhythm and really pull everything out.
“I think in the second quarter I struggled. I was faster, I just didn’t do well on the last lap.
“I did a really good lap in Q3 and I matched it pretty much at the end, but we just needed a little more time to beat the Ferrari.”
Mercedes team-mate George Russell has had a more disappointing time when he was knocked out in Q2 and will start Sunday’s race from 11th on the grid.
Russell said a mistake he made in the final Q2 race cost him his chance to make it to Q3 – but admitted things didn’t go well.
“We couldn’t go fast enough this weekend,” he said. “Obviously I was keen to get into the third quarter. I gave it my all and had a solid lap, but I made a mistake on the last one and it threw me off.
“It’s a funny sport at times, from qualifying at the front at the last race (in Australia), to myself getting out in Q2 and Lewis just getting into P10. So, yeah, we’ve got another chance tomorrow. , but not ideal at all.”
Mercedes may be in trouble. The team had to report to the stewards of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for the alleged breach of post-race procedure.
Since you can get 26 points, why should you be satisfied with 25 points? That was Max Verstappen’s mind as he successfully attempted to set the fastest lap in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren driver Norris scored a season-best third in Spain, but he won when he clashed with Hamilton’s Mercedes on the first lap and had to pit at the end of the opening round. Hopes for points were dashed.
Hamilton escaped without major damage and went on to finish second.
After his final 17th place, Norris stressed that even before the touch, he expected points struggles due to McLaren’s continued struggles with speed and the position of several drivers further out.
Mercedes driver George Russell recovered from 12th to third, while Sergio Perez’s Red Bull team moved from 11th to fourth on the grid.
Norris said: “The pace today was as expected, which is bad. I don’t think we were really expecting anything else.
“Our aim was to possibly score points, but we didn’t expect it to be like yesterday.”
Asked if points would have been possible without Hamilton’s influence, Norris replied: “Probably not, no.”
He then added: “Because we’re slow, we’ve had a full year. I don’t know, there’s nothing to say.
“Yesterday was a special day. Some good teams struggled and some worse teams did better, so it was just a weird day, people made a lot of mistakes and we just took advantage of that.
Lando Norris and the grid mechanic for the McLaren MCL60
Photography: Jack Grant / motorsport pictures
“Other than that, we’ve been behind all season and struggled for points halfway through the race. It was the same thing today. People expected us to have a very tough day today.
“We’re obviously nowhere near Alpine, Aston or all these top five, top six teams.
“It’s pointless to think ‘we’re going to score points’ because we’re not going fast enough.”
Explaining the clash with Hamilton, Norris said it was sparked by Hamilton checking to avoid Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz as they recovered from off-track runs while battling for the lead going into Turn 1. .
Norris described it as “just a racing incident”, explaining: “I did see Max go off the track at Turn 1, go a little wide, so he had to roll over the curb at Turn 2 and then Everyone checked it out.
“I was too close to Lewis to react and brake and all that. So it was just an unfortunate moment. Lewis was fine, he didn’t do anything wrong.”
Mercedes must report to stewards after alleged parc fermé violation
Verstappen went for fastest lap despite warning: 'Knew it could be done'
Norris didn’t expect F1 points in Spain even before Hamilton clash
Marko on excelling Verstappen: 'Apart from that it was perfect'
Leclerc missing out on points in Spain: ‘Will analyse what went wrong'
Q2 off left Perez “unsettled” ahead of final F1 qualifying run
Charles Leclerc starts from the pit lane
Barcelona F1 qualifying pace a ‘confirming moment’ for Alpine
Red Bull played it safe: "Just in case Lewis pulled something out the bag"
Perez defeated after 'calamitous' performance: 'Verstappen pearless to P1'
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