Lewis Hamilton reckons the pace seen in F1 Spanish GP is probably the maximum they have, as George Russell and Toto Wolff add on fine results.
After the performances in Canada, Mercedes followed it up yet another fine run in F1 Spanish GP where Hamilton ended up on the podium in third while Russell was fourth despite clearing both Max Verstappen and Lando Norris on Lap 1.
Russell was overtaken by Verstappen soon and then Norris too cleared him as he dropped to third. A hard tyre choice went against him as teammate Hamilton passed him late in the race after electing to run the soft compound, which was the better tyre to be on.
Hamilton reckoned the gap was higher than what it should have been between him and Verstappen. They trailed the Red Bull car by over 17s but he felt it should be lower. Regardless, it was the maximum that Mercedes could have done pace wise.
Since the car is peaky, Hamilton noted that they do well only on one type of set-up. “Yes, big boost to finally get a good result,” he said. “It’s been a minute since I’ve been up here in the race. So a huge, huge thank you to the to the team who have done an amazing job to…just with all the processes through the race weekend but particularly everyone back at the at the factory for working so hard the extra-long hours to bring components to the car.
“And we’re slowly getting closer. I mean last year we were very fast here but so you have to take it with a pinch of salt, but obviously the last couple of races we’ve also been relatively competitive. So I think we have closed the gap a little bit but we still have a good couple of tenths to try and find. So we just got to have all hands on deck and keep pushing.
“I think that’s the maximum it’s got at the moment. But I mean, we’re always fine-tuning it with subtle changes that we make. So we are always fine-tuning it when we continue to tune it through the year. But we need to bolt some stuff on, some extra bits to be able to compete with these guys. We’re definitely getting more consistent. And if I can just get my qualifying to be like Spain, then it makes the Sunday so much easier.
“Also, if you get a good start. Our pace is where we were basically, third and fourth. But I think our car has generally been very, it’s quite peaky. And that means that it’s often out of balance. It’s very rare that it’s in balance and it’s nice and smooth through a corner. And so set-up has been… I’ve obviously experimented a lot with the set-up over the last couple years but the car doesn’t really like any of the set-ups but one, and it’s slowly starting to get just become nicer to drive.
“And then ultimately, tyres. The tyres have been a huge issue for me. I think we got it half decent this weekend. If I can make some improvements over the course of the next races I think there’s more performance there,” summed up Hamilton, as teammate Russell admitted that the hard choice was probably not the right one.
But he was happy to challenge Verstappen and Norris on Lap 1, even though he is not certain about the gap between Mercedes and their rivals. “We knew the hard was not going to be a great tyre but we wanted to split the risk between Lewis and I because if we extended, there could potentially have been under threat from Charles behind so as a team we had to reduce the risk,” he explained.
“Obviously I felt a little bit disappointed not to be on the podium but I was there in Canada and Lewis did a great job and as a team we are taking the positives from what has been a really promising couple of races. We finished I don’t know how many seconds behind the win, 20 seconds maybe which is a lot in the scheme of things.
“But we know in Canada, we had the fastest car and you are not going to have the fastest car every single weekend. And we feel like we are riding a bit of momentum and it has shifted and is with us to take the next big leap with our updates so we are feeling pretty confident,” summed up Russell.
Adding on the strategy, team boss Wolff felt the hard tyre choice was actually right thing to do before seeing how it actually performed. He is carefully optimistic regarding Mercedes winning races this year, but is also realistic that it will be a difficult ask.
“We were pretty convinced that the hard was the right thing to do,” said Wolff to media. “And obviously, to our disadvantage, we didn’t have any new anymore, which gives you maybe another two laps. So, yeah and George was basically the first one that we changed. And then we realized that’s not going well.
“And then Lewis was able to extend the stint and that was the beneficiary of the hindsight. Regarding a win, when you look where we ended up, obviously George on the hard was the wrong strategy. Clearly that was on the team and we had a slow stop with three seconds. But if you look at where, Lewis was 15 seconds behind the leaders, while taking the pace out of the end, maybe call it 10 seconds.
“So that’s much closer. They weren’t holding back Max and Norris. So yeah, it’s a reason to be carefully optimistic that we are much closer and we’ll be able to fight,” summed up Wolff, who reiterated to rubbish the conspiracy theories in light of Hamilton excelling in the Spanish GP weekend and finishing ahead of Russell.
“These conspiracy theorists I have zero respect for, because they have no brain,” said Wolff. “We want a car that wins races and championships and who doesn’t get that should be watching another sport.
“But it’s good to see that he has a great weekend, because it has been a while that he was on the receiving end, and strategy has worked against him, and today that was in his favour, and rightly so, so I’m happy that we have that earned that podium for him, because it has been a while.”
Here’s the start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-spanish-grand-prix-russell-gets-a-lightning-start-from-p4-to-take-the-lead-on-the-race-start.1802657566375674963
Here’s George Russell losing out to Max Verstappen; https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-spanish-grand-prix-verstappen-goes-round-the-outside-of-russell-at-turn-1-to-take-the-lead.1802659421369533524
Here’s George Russell and Lando Norris in battle: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-spanish-grand-prix-norris-comes-out-on-top-in-wheel-to-wheel-battle-with-russell-for-p2.1802662529154878870
Here’s Lewis Hamilton about podium: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-spanish-grand-prix-hamilton-celebrates-his-return-to-the-podium-after-crossing-the-line-for-p3.1802667501651225394
Here’s George Russell on his start
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on Carlos Sainz hit
Here’s Toto Wolff blasting on conspiracies
Here’s how F1 Spanish GP panned out
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
