Although Mercedes experienced a promising run just before the break, with Lewis Hamilton clinching two victories and George Russell securing another win out of four races, the latest aerodynamic upgrade package introduced for the United States Grand Prix weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin has not yet delivered the desired results for the team. Lewis Hamilton shared his thoughts on the ongoing challenges faced by his squad in Mexico City.
In qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion secured a sixth-place finish, trailing his teammate George Russell. While Lewis Hamilton is utilizing the upgraded package, George Russell is unable to do so following his crash during qualifying at the previous week’s Austin Grand Prix.
“FP3 felt decent. It felt like we were on the right track. so I decided not to make any changes. All we did was put the wing on and I was like, ‘okay, let’s leave it there’. There’s not really a lot we could do in development, 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 the car.” – Lewis Hamilton explained.
A cause for concern for Mercedes is that the seven-time world champion has expressed confidence that their previous package may perform more effectively during the Grand Prix: “But it’ll be interesting to get a reading because obviously I’m on the upgraded car, it should be quicker, but I don’t think it is.” – the future Ferrari driver pointed out – “We definitely took a good step with the FP3, I thought at least in balance, but the actual car we were still six tenths off the cars ahead. We put the bigger wing on to get more downforce and it just went slow. Same as every single race I’ve had this year.”
Looking back at how things unfolded last weekend in the United States Grand Prix at the Austin circuit, the British driver explained: “We just have three-wheeling and the ride height’s moving 15mm up and down. When it does that, it s**** the bed basically.”
Lewis Hamilton anticipates that he won’t be able to compete with the cars in front of him.
The two Mercedes vehicles occupy the third row of the grid in Mexico, but the British driver doesn’t foresee being able to contend with the drivers starting in the top four positions this Sunday in Mexico City: “We’ll get lots of data tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll compete with the guys ahead. They’re just too fast. So, we’ll see how it goes. I just want to go to the end of the race, at least this time.” – the Mercedes driver concluded.
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