Lewis Hamilton has another 20 races of the season to go with Mercedes before heading to Scuderia Ferrari. The 7-time F1 Drivers’ World Champion was less than impressed in Suzuka after his P9 finish saw him being asked post-race as to whether he was jealous of the speed of Ferrari. Hamilton was blunt in his reply telling the reporter “Do you have any better questions?” Meanwhile, the Stevenage born racer will be hoping for better performance from his W15 when F1 makes its long-awaited return to Shanghai in a fortnight.
A record breaking 24-race-season has started with Lewis Hamilton scoring 10 points from the first four races. Such a tally is the lowest of the British racer’s career to date and he is already 67 points behind Max Verstappen with the 3-time F1 Drivers’ Champion once again on top of the table setting the pace.
Having crossed the line P9 in Suzuka on race day, Hamilton had to then complete his media requirements. The British racer has had a frustrating time so far in his final season with the Silver Arrows but is not one to talk badly of his team. In a situation which must surely be frustrating, one interviewer took things too far with Hamilton in Suzuka.
Hamilton was asked ‘How was it for you today.’ and the reply which followed was ‘OK, it was OK’. The 39-year-old racer was then asked ‘Are you a little bit jealous towards the Ferraris at the moment?’ Hamilton was adamant in his reply with a clear ‘No.’ However, the journalist questioned this saying ‘No? Looking forward to being with them, yeah, because they are faster or just…’ Hamilton interrupted at this point asking “Do you have any better questions?” upon realising his error the interviewer said “I’m sorry, I’m just uh…” and with a farewell ‘OK’ from the 7-time Champion the interview was over.
Elsewhere in the pen, Hamilton had been asked as to whether a different strategy from Mercedes would have been better. His reply showed there are still many questions around how to extract performance from the W15.
“I don’t know what it would have been,” stated Hamilton. “We still had two really terrible tyres to run through. A real challenge today. I think I picked up a bit of damage, I had huge understeer for the first stint. The hard tyre was pretty bad, medium tyre was much better. In general, the car was just pretty bad here.”
Teammate George Russell performed slightly better with a P7 finish and this was certainly aided by Hamilton volunteering to move over mid-race to let Russell by. Such an action again showing how Hamilton is keen to put the team ahead of himself.
Ferrari clearly have a quick car but Lewis Hamilton secured six of his seven F1 Drivers’ World Championships with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team – and his first at McLaren was achieved with a Mercedes engine. Hamilton is not one to ‘throw his team under the bus’ and such loyalty should be remembered in any future questions.
Hamilton is known for his slogan ‘Still We Rise’ and until he wears the red overalls of Ferrari you can be sure that Mercedes is the only thing on his mind and he will do all he can to see his team rise back up the standings.
