Hamilton: “I think they need to change the track” in Abu Dhabi

Second at the end of a Grand Prix that was calm to say the least, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) did not take any gloves to express his frustration. “It’s impossible to overtake here.”, he said to Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), while the two men hydrated before climbing onto the ceremonial podium.

Indeed, during the entire 55 laps contested in Abu Dhabi, the quadruple world champion certainly tried to deal a blow to his teammate Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), in vain. Barely back in his opponent's diffuser at the end of the opposite straight, the Briton lost several tenths in the series of slow turns at the end of the circuit. Crippling to hope to attempt an attack afterwards.

“I was wondering ‘but where have the latecomers gone?’” in order to take advantage of their aspiration to get back on the Finn. “I think they need to change that track. It’s very complicated to overtake, I gave everything”, he continued. A few minutes later, the Englishman was more polite about criticizing the nature of the route. “It’s a great track but… it’s not very suitable for cars. In the last sector, you cannot follow the person in front of you. I don't know if it was an exciting race for you to watch, but in terms of overtaking it's one of the worst because you need to be a second and four tenths a lap faster than your rival to overtake him. »

Lewis Hamilton is frustrated at not having been able to fight a battle with his team partner. “I had no chance of overtaking him, unless he made a mistake and went off the line – although you have huge asphalt run-off areas where you can still go fast…” According to him, the characteristics of the circuit should be modified. “There are these long straights where you can't even get close to the car in front of you to benefit from it. If there's any way to stay close in the third sector, I think it would make a great circuit. I don't know if they can do it, but I know there is the money for it. I hope the route will improve. »