F1
Hamilton and Mercedes, hard return to reality: “Farther from Red Bull than we thought”
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The dominance of Red Bull is sometimes cruel for other teams, especially at the start of the season. Throughout the winter tests and Free Practices, Mercedes chained positive declarations and signs of optimism with its new W15, which should mark the renewal of the German team in F1 with a completely new development philosophy.
Unfortunately, the Bahrain Grand Prix was only a demonstration by Red Bull, and a failure for the Silver Arrows. George Russell was unable to resist the Ferrari and finished 5th, while Lewis Hamilton, who started in the middle of the pack, was unable to move up higher than 7th place.
“I think we probably feel a little bit of disappointment within the team, the seven-time world champion told Sky Sports F1 after the race. I really hoped we would be better this weekend than we were. It was a difficult race. Everyone is very close. Tire degradation is obviously significant. There are definitely a lot of areas where we can improve. We are clearly further from the Red Bulls than we thought. »
“It was all a question of discovery” Hamilton believes
It must be said that the Silver Arrows race was not easy on a technical level. Toto wolff revealed that the Mercedes suffered from cooling problems, which would have cost “five to six tenths” turn according to the Austrian leader. Lewis Hamilton was also affected by a more unusual problem: his seat broke during the race, placing him in an uncomfortable position at the end of the Grand Prix.
The Briton, aware that his starting position did not advantage him (qualified 9th on the grid), however did not take advantage of a car that he wanted tuned for the race this weekend. “ The car is reliable, but I had to struggle in the car today, underlines Lewis Hamilton. I gave everything, but there wasn't much performance compared to those before us. I think if I had qualified better, I would have naturally taken a few places ahead, because the last stint was good.
“It was all about discovery todayhe concludes. I discovered a lot about the car and there are a lot of things we can improve, and I'm sure the team will. »
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Dorian Grangier
A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.
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Yves-Henri RANDIER
03/03/2024 at 03:06 a.m.
Bahrain, failure for the Silver Arrows indeed! And “Gold Lives Matter” lags behind his teammate, mainly because of a poorer qualification. What about the famous broken seat? I will be very curious to see what it looks like when you consider that they are practically sitting in the carbon shell...
YVES CHAMPOD
03/03/2024 at 02:58 a.m.
Obviously, no photo of Sister Hamilton's "broken" seat, yet another lie from Toto, to support her darling? ! ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And what does the FIA think of the fragility of a safety element of the 'Mercedes AMG Petronas'? ? ?