Lewis Hamilton has outlined the key weakness that affected his Mercedes Formula 1 car at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Mercedes endured a tough start to the season when the W15 did not provide the improvements they hoped out of the box for Hamilton and George Russell. The team has slowly improved its fortunes by bringing a consistent amount of upgrades to their car, with their most recent introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Technical director James Allison cautioned that he did not expect Mercedes to be “right at the front” in the races after Canada, but their performance is proving to be better than anticipated with Hamilton qualifying in third for the Spanish GP.
READ MORE: Five unforgettable Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona including Senna vs Mansell
Lewis Hamilton outlines key issue with Mercedes F1 car
Although Hamilton starts from the second row, he was still three-tenths slower than Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. He felt there was more lap time on offer, but outlined a key problem with the characteristics of his W15 when speaking in the drivers’ press conference.
“I definitely feel like there was a little bit more. But just as you start to push the car, it doesn’t like it. So in practice, when you leave a little bit of margin, the car feels quite nice. But it’s when you start to lean on it to try and get that extra bit of lap time out where we really struggle,” said Hamilton.
“It’s all in the tyres. So you saw in Q1, I was seven-tenths down due to an issue with the blankets. And then we got it sorted for the following sessions. So, it puts you a little bit on the back foot. But yeah, otherwise, the car, as I said, it’s good that we’re up here and it’s the best qualifying I’ve had this year, so I’m really grateful for it.”
Mercedes brings crucial performance updates
Mercedes has brought a weight-saving upgrade to its floor in Barcelona which has helped it close the gap to rivals. Their new front wing, introduced first at the Monaco Grand Prix, also provided a breakthrough in performance they expected.
It enabled Russell to take pole by setting an identical lap time to Verstappen in Canada, while they showed in the race that they can match the pace of McLaren and Ferrari.
The European triple-header is set to be a crucial acid test for Red Bull to see how far ahead they truly are compared to their rivals. Alison believes Mercedes has solved a fundamental problem with their car, and the race in Barcelona is set to confirm whether they are on the right path.
Marc Priestley believes their form at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya is ‘really encouraging’ after Hamilton and Russell were split by just 0.002 in qualifying.
The post 'It doesn't like it': Lewis Hamilton outlines key Mercedes F1 car weakness appeared first on F1 Oversteer.