© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
After getting P2 at the Mexican Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes “didn’t change anything obviously since qualifying”, but “when you put a load of fuel in it, the car just handles nicer”.
After struggling in qualifying, Lewis Hamilton managed to finish the Mexican Grand Prix in P2. The Briton says he wasn’t expecting such a great result.
“Yeah, great day, I was not expecting to be up here with these guys,” Lewis said.
“Difficult weekend, it started out, but yeah, I just kept my nose clean at the beginning of the race and then just really trying to manage the tyres and maximise and progress forwards.
“And when I noticed that I had the pace on Carlos, I knew that with the undercut, it really worked quite well. So, the team did a great job I think with strategy.
“And then of course the red flag probably played into our hands in terms of getting onto the fresher tyre at the end.
“But I just I didn’t know if whether or not the Medium [tyre] would make it that long. I was trying to see if I could close the gap to Max but he was long gone and I could only just about equal his times.
“But great result for the team, really proud of everyone.”
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
He then explains what made the car perform better in the race.
“[The car] didn’t change… Well, we didn’t change anything obviously since qualifying. I think the car is just quite peaky in qualifying on light fuel.
“But when you put a load of fuel in it, the car just handles nicer. Just nice to drive and I think we struck a really nice set-up this weekend and particularly today for the race.
“Then, other than that, it’s just really good tyre management. And so yeah, I generally enjoyed it. It’s not the most physical of races, being that you can’t push all the way, you’re saving.
“You’re doing 200, 300 metres of lift and coast to keep the car cool and stop it from failing. So, yeah, but I was I was definitely hoping maybe there’ll be an opportunity to get closer to Max.
“But maybe next week,” Hamilton concluded.
