© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
Back in 2022 , by Mercedes’ own admission, Lewis Hamilton was doing most of the experimenting with the car to try and help the team improve it, and he says this year “it’s pretty much the same”.
Lewis Hamilton has a tough time in Australian Grand Prix Qualifying, he was eliminated in Q2 and finished the session in P11.
Afterwards, Lewis said Mercedes is facing the same problems it has been facing in the previous two seasons.
“I mean, it’s three years in a row, similar feeling,” the Briton said.
“But then there’s these spikes of ‘ah, it could be good’, like this morning, but then it kind of disappears.
“If we can work out a way of finding that goodness in the car and making it more consistent and holding onto that, then we can be more competitive.
“There’s lots of work we need to do, but everyone’s working as hard as they can.”
Lewis added the changes in the condition of the track also played a role in Mercedes’ fluctuations in performance this weekend.
“[FP3] felt really good for us and I was really feeling optimistic going into qualifying. But then, I don’t know if it was the wind picking up – the wind picked up quite a bit, same as yesterday – and then the car is just so much more on a knife-edge here.”
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
As for what he expects to happen of Sunday, Lewis said:
“I haven’t done a long run so I don’t really know, but the other car has. I think everyone’s so fast, so…
“But it’s a new day, we’ll still try. I’ll give it everything and move forwards.”
Lewis was then asked if the situation is similar to 2022, when he was doing experiments with the car to try and help the team find ways to improve it, and if he and Russell were still ‘splitting strategies’?
“In 2022 we weren’t splitting. George was doing one thing and I was trying every set-up that there was to try and help the team try and find options and figure out how we can fix it.
“It’s pretty much the same, a little bit similar to this year, I’m trying lots of different things but I think this weekend we’re much closer,” the Briton concluded.
