Photo credits: AMG Mercedes F1 Team
Position seven for Lewis Hamilton on tomorrow’s starting grid for the Japanese Grand Prix, that sounds like a “best of the rest” result for the team, with Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren battling out for the front rows.
The weekend hadn’t kicked off in the best way for the Brit, as he struggled with the set up of the car throught the first two free practice sessions on Friday. Things, however, took a turn for the better on Saturday.
“Yesterday was horrendous, but made some good changes overnight and the car was feeling really good today, so I was much happier with it,” he explained F1 TV at the end of qualifying.
“Unfortunately, we’re just not quick enough. We just got to keep working away.”
Coming from a podium finish in Singapore Hamilton is now third in the championship standings, behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Red Bulls that – after an unusually challenging weekend in the streets of Singapore – are back at the top, leaving everyone else quite far behind.
Over a second of difference between Hamilton’s best lap in Suzuka and poleman Max Verstappen’s one that the Mercedes driver explained this way:
“We’re a long way away on rear downforce, so that’s why we’re so slow in the first sector. But the laps felt really good, it’s just within one second away, it’s crazy”.
There is no doubt that this season Red Bull is rather unreachable in the constructor’s standings and on track. But what worries Hamilton the most is the upcoming one and the fact that there are no guarantees Mercedes will be able to catch up with the work they’ve done down in Milton Keynes.
“To close that gap for next year and at this point still be a second down like this is definitely worrying for us as a team,” he said.
Switching the focus on tomorrow’s Grand Prix, what Hamilton is most concerned about is tyre degradation.
“We’re just going to struggle like everybody else with tyre degradation. It’s going to be tough.”
