Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
With Mercedes lacking at least two-tenths a lap against their excelling rivals according to Lewis Hamilton, he concerningly does not see anything in the works that will allow the team to bridge that gap.
Following McLaren’s impressive victory in Miami, where Lando Norris showcased the remarkable potential of their upgraded MCL38, Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes were prompted to devise their own upgrade packages for the upcoming race in Imola.
Lewis Hamilton claims required Mercedes gains ‘not in the wind tunnel’
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
However, Norris and McLaren presented a new challenge to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at Imola. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is confident that they are close to joining the fight. In contrast, Mercedes found themselves in a difficult position, with Hamilton finishing in sixth place, 35 seconds behind the race winner Verstappen. Russell trailed even further behind, finishing an additional 12 seconds back.
Despite Hamilton being more content with his performance in the second stint, he still believed that he was missing out on “two to three tenths” compared to the Ferraris, McLarens, and Verstappen’s Red Bull that were ahead of him.
He informed the media, including Thomas Maher from PlanetF1.com, that he believed his performance in the second stint was on par with the leading drivers.
“I believe we are still missing a couple of decimal points.”
In light of this, Hamilton was questioned about his thoughts on when Mercedes can recover from this setback and regain their competitive edge at the forefront. Undoubtedly, both he and the team were quite familiar with this position, but Hamilton is currently experiencing a winless period since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Despite being alarmed, Hamilton was unable to provide an answer as he stated that the Mercedes wind tunnel is currently not showing any performance gain.
“I can’t give you an answer,” replied Hamilton when asked about when Mercedes could catch up to Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari. “I don’t have… that disadvantage. As I mentioned, George was half a second behind yesterday, and probably three or four tenths behind during the race.”
At present, the development phase does not include that in the wind tunnel.
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When questioned about Mercedes’ progress in comprehending these upgrades for Imola, Hamilton stated that there have been minor advancements. However, he emphasized that these steps were incredibly small.
Hamilton’s race time was hindered when he had to navigate through the gravel at Acque Minerali on the 28th lap. The seven-time World Champion was convinced that this incident cost him five seconds, and he had to additionally account for three more seconds due to pitting and emerging behind Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
He confirmed that he believed it would take approximately five seconds without that.
“That meant I ended up behind Fernando, resulting in another loss of several seconds. Overall, I believe I lost around eight seconds, which is not ideal. Fortunately, we managed to maintain our position without losing any places.”
Mercedes, currently occupying the fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship, have already fallen behind by a considerable margin of 189 points compared to the leading team, Red Bull.
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