Sixth at the start and sixth at the finish of the sprint this Saturday, Lewis Hamilton set the fifth fastest time in qualifying, thanks to the cancellation of the time set by Oscar Piastri. The Briton, still beaten by his teammate George Russell even though he only finished 0″063 behind, came out relatively satisfied with his session, where he was especially able to see the gap that still separates the Mercedes W15 from the Red Bull RB20, particularly in the fast corners.
In Q1 you said on the radio that you were “slow”. You finished fifth in Q3, are you satisfied?
Yes, it was good.
Did you make any changes between the sprint and qualifying?
Yes, we made changes before qualifying and the car was better. We were much slower than Max [Verstappen], very much ; it’s crazy how much faster they are [dans les virages] at high speed. I think they were 12-13 km/h faster, that’s a lot.
Charles Leclerc said that Ferrari was much slower in high speed corners so as not to compromise the slow corners, is that the same for you?
No, we just don’t have enough support, we haven’t made any compromises, that’s all we have in reserve.
The idea that we can win a race this year with a gap of half a second like today is a little further from reality.
Is this a consequence of the development of the car?
I don’t have the answer, honestly, if I could take a little bit of downforce and put it on the rear I would, but that’s not how it works, so we’ll keep working to improve it. But the idea that we can win a race this year with a half-second gap like today is a little bit further from reality, but we have to keep working.
You seemed closer this weekend, are you surprised by the gap with Max?
Not really, I wouldn’t say I’m surprised. We are always fast in FP1 and in practice. I don’t know if it’s the fuel, the engine or the strategy that we use that others don’t use. It’s like that.
Avec Filip Cleeren et Haydn Cobb
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