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After a tough weekend in Monza, Lewis Hamilton admitted to the lack of pace Mercedes are suffering from.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualified third and sixth respectively for the Italian Grand Prix, maybe not their best result of the year so far but a solid effort that left them optimistic heading into the race.
But neither driver had an ideal race, although Hamilton improved one spot on his starting place to finish fifth, Russell dropped back at the start and was unable to recover past seventh place where he ended at the chequered flag.
Sitting significantly (over 100 points) behind Ferrari in the Constructors’ Standings, all the way down in fourth, Mercedes know they need to improve their performance to achieve a better result after an admittedly sub-par weekend in Monza.
W15 lacking pace
As reported by Autosport, Hamilton admitted that the team was suffering “more degradation” and “generally lacking one-or-two-tenths” per lap during the race at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
“It was OK, it was nothing special,” he said about his race. “You’re either graining the left front or graining the left rear. We just didn’t have the pace. We have to go and look and try to understand why.
“Also, because we looked better on Friday, we got almost slower through the weekend, or others got faster, or we were too light and they were heavy, who knows?”
Fortunately for Hamilton and Mercedes, the British driver had a positive outlook on rest of the season, commenting: “There’s definitely some performance to come over the course of the next few races.
“We do have small bits. I don’t know if we have anything huge coming, but hopefully we have some more performance.”
Russell’s race
While Hamilton was at least able to make up some places in the Italian Grand Prix, Russell suffered a lock-up at the first corner on Lap 1, an incident that proved costly.
“I just got caught out by Oscar [Piastri]’s braking point and I touched the brakes,” Russell said. “Started locking up because I was so close to him and I had to take avoiding action.
“It’s quite upsetting when your whole weekend goes away from you so quick, but looking at the pace afterwards I don’t think we would have been able to keep up with the McLarens and Ferrari.
“It was a really disappointing day, but ultimately didn’t have the pace. The sport’s a bit strange at the moment with how Red Bull have lost so much pace. Ferrari seemed to be struggling in Zandvoort and all the races prior, but then they were so quick on Sunday in Zandvoort and this whole weekend, so I don’t really know.”
Mercedes has a significant advantage (218 points) over Aston Martin, the team closest behind them in the Constructors’ Championship. But settling for fourth place can’t be enough for a team who is used to winning by significant margins, and the they’ll be hoping Hamilton’s optimism for their upgrades rings true in the coming weeks.
Feature Image Credit: Mercedes AMG F1