Lewis Hamilton criticizes the new Mercedes update after starting sixth in Mexico and doubts that it is faster than the old version: “Like a rollercoaster ride”
Lewis Hamilton is disappointed with the performance of the updated Mercedes car after qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix. The seven-time Formula One world champion finished sixth on Saturday and subsequently expressed doubts that the team’s new aero package is actually faster than the previous version.
“It’s been a slightly difficult weekend,” he sums up, explaining that he made no further adjustments after a ‘good’ third free practice session. However, the decision to race with the larger rear wing did not bring the hoped-for advantage: ‘We wanted more downforce, but in the end we only slowed down,’ said Hamilton.
Despite his high expectations for the new update, the adjustment does not appear to have given the team the decisive advantage over the leading teams. After the Grand Prix in Austin, it was already clear within the team that the gap to the top remained. Team principal Toto Wolff recently mentioned that Mercedes is currently back in the role of the “underdog”.
Hamilton: Mercedes at the maximum set-up
Hamilton notes that there is little room for maneuver in terms of setup to make progress: “There’s not much we can do in terms of setup to push the car forward,” he explains. In qualifying, he suddenly felt completely different handling at the rear, which unexpectedly presented him with problems: “It’s like a rollercoaster ride – suddenly you have no rear end at all.”
After the last Grand Prix, Hamilton had already noted that the updates could sometimes do more harm than good and that the team might have taken the wrong development path. The gap to the top is still about half a second.
“We are collecting a lot of data, but to be honest, I don’t see us being able to keep up with the guys in front of us tomorrow. They’re just too fast,” Hamilton continued. However, he hopes to at least finish the race without incident and to gain important information from the new data.
Team principal Toto Wolff is still fighting spirit and emphasizes that Mercedes will continue to work on optimization: “When we are fast, we are really fast, but we still have some work ahead of us.”