It has been a year of contrasting emotions for seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton. After ending his winless run by taking a memorable win at the British Grand Prix back in July, the Brit followed it up with victory at Spa following George Russell’s disqualification.
However, qualifying has been a real struggle for the 104-time polesitter. He trails Russell 5-13 in Grand Prix qualifying — the younger Brit sealed the head-to-head in Baku.
On quite a few occasions this year, the 105-time race winner has been very fast in practice. Come qualifying however as track/air temps and an evolution of the circuit occurs in the afternoon, things have gone away from him.
In Baku, he was P2 and P3 in the two sessions on Friday, looking like a contender for the first two rows. When Q3 arrived, however, he could only manage 7th.
Getting the tyres in the right window on a consistent basis has also been incredibly challenging due to the narrow performance window with the Pirellis. One session a driver looks rapid, the next they struggle.
George Russell was very unhappy with them in Baku after varying performance levels across the medium and hard stints during the Grand Prix.
At Marina Bay last time out, he was 0.7s quicker than Hamilton in final practice as he finished 2nd. By qualifying, it completely turned around and he was slower in every segment. The 26-year-old did not hide his displeasure on the radio as he complained about grip and tyres.
There has also been complaints in recent years about the full wets and the lack of performance they provide, particularly from Max Verstappen.
Asked if the key to getting the most out of the tyres is going at 99.9% and leaving the tiniest of margins on the table, Hamilton did not agree with that assessment.
“Yeah, well I don’t know if I agree with that.
“If you look at Friday for example last week, the laps were just coming really easy. I was still pushing the same as I was on Saturday, but the laps were just coming to me.
“The car was in a really consistent place, and then on Saturday it just disappeared.
“That’s pretty much happened every weekend.”
The 39-year-old believes there is differences between sets of Pirelli tyres, as the car can feel completely different from one day to the next despite making almost no changes.
“It’s like the front tyres were working massively […] I’ve never actually said at least this year how good the tyres were, and this is the first time on Friday I was like the ‘tyres are great, don’t change anything’.
“[We] barely change anything on the car and then Saturday it’s completely different.
“There are small differences I think between tyre sets, and that’s something I’m sure Pirelli are working on. But that’s probably one of the most frustrating things.
“You prepare the same, get to bed early, sleep well, eat right, all of that, and then the next day the car is completely different when you barely change anything.
“That’s probably the most frustrating thing I think about this this year I would say.”
Hamilton has been struggling somewhat since the ground effect cars came into play in 2022. While all three of Mercedes’ cars in this era have been tricky to drive at times, his one-lap pace has not been as good as it was previously.
Nonetheless, he believes that it’s still in him to deliver. As the Mercedes car continues to be unpredictable in how it will perform, it’s very tricky for the drivers to fully trust their machinery. Hamilton says constant aero characteristic changes do not help.
Trying to understand why they were so fast at Spa in the race is something they seem unsure of as well, according to the Brit.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot and honestly I don’t think it’s necessarily about not being able to access it.
“It’s just the cars and the envelope that we have is much more on a knife edge. You’d be in a braking zone and the rear is out of the window and then all of a sudden mid-corner or before the apex it’s in the window and then it’s out of the window again.
“And I think it’s the aero characteristics are shifting every week, so from having a bigger wing to a small beam wing to having a bigger beam wing to having front wings that are flexing, rear wings that are flexing.
“It’s such a competitive and really challenging time I think for the aerodynamicists and for simulations to have them make sure they cover each weekend.
“I think it’s been probably one of the most challenging times for […] at least I know for my engineers it’s been a very, very challenging time to try and get this car in the proper window.
“When we were in Spa we had no understanding of why all of a sudden it was quickest and they probably still don’t, but we’re hoping that that comes back to us at some stage.”
