Lewis Hamilton says he is surprised how much less competitive Ferrari have been in recent races.
The Mercedes driver scored his fourth consecutive win and moved within striking distance of the championship. Meanwhile Ferrari have lost the performance advantage they enjoyed a few races ago.“Up until the mid-part of the season they were very strong,” said Hamilton. “And then we obviously got to Monza and then after that they were still quite strong.”
“Then at Singapore was when it really started to tail off. I definitely hadn’t anticipated that they would tail off as they have.
“Not only have they lost a lot of performance, just performances have not been coming in the same as they had before, as strong as they were before. I don’t really have an answer for that and it’s not something I’m really focused on. I’m sure Sebastian [Vettel] could tell you why
“We’ve just been focusing on trying to do the best job we can and maximise the potential of our own ability, that’s all we can do.”
Hamilton can win the championship in the next race at the Circuit of the Americas. However he said he will continue to “take it one step at a time.”
“Each week you have a positive weekend and you go to another grand prix and you’re not sure how you’re going to fare and how you’re going to perform, because there are still gaps in between.
“But I think we have gone from strength to strength this year as a team, so I really hope that we can. Austin is usually a good track for us, so I can’t wait to unleash this beast there.”
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JohnH (@johnrkh)
7th October 2018, 10:23
Looking at the speed of the Mercs I’d say they may have picked up a few extra 1/100s here and there since the summer break.
mystic one (@mysticus)
7th October 2018, 19:31
or looking at the (straight line) speed (from middle of the straight) of Ferrari, I’d say they may have dropped something or the extra sensors would pick up that extra bit of power squeze that came out of nowhere and disappeared into the thin air…
hyoko
7th October 2018, 12:33
Too much flak about belittling the Mercs vs the mighty Ferraris, methinks?
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
7th October 2018, 13:40
They didn’t. Mercedes did.
007
7th October 2018, 15:15
Hammy is very strange person.
Complex personality, as Toto said.
Who asked him for comments, opinion about Ferrari and their strategy.
Yes, Sebastian is lovely and handsome man and hammy 44 will never be such attractive and polite person like Seb is.
I am hardly waiting to see Horner with Sebastian together in Ferrari.
Hammy, keep mouth closed and hug Valteri, hug him….but…
phpguy
8th October 2018, 4:02
That’s such a weird thing to say that it’s almost funny. Now, I don’t like Hamilton very much but at least he doesn’t have obvious anger issues like Seb does and I don’t remember him always blaming others for his own mistakes.
Also, who asked him about comments? Pretty sure a journalist did …
CHIKANO (@chikano)
8th October 2018, 6:46
R.I.P English
Martin
8th October 2018, 13:05
You do understand the concept of interviews right?
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
7th October 2018, 16:32
Has the extra sensor that Ferrari have been forced to carry got anything to do with it?
mystic one (@mysticus)
7th October 2018, 19:29
two different views…
1) more logical and everything points to this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1gGmU40zA
2) more sensible thing you would expect but 1 stands… as noone loose soo much just from aero over night, and if you do, you go back to original/previous set up… (to me, because they are not back to top performance for so many races makes 1 more viable answer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F5i7Pk6nwM
Ajaxn
7th October 2018, 20:11
Here’s the think no one’s explained.
At the start of the season the Ferrari had all that extra oil fumes coming from the rear of their cars. That disappeared round about the time of their motor upgrades which also seemed to benifit Haas.
Then more recdently, we had some actions taken against Haas for their floor, and that’s followed by Farrari sudden loss of form together with these recent reports about extra power sensors. There was also the suddenly changes to the floor/ power units, just before qualifying started in Singapore.
So the question is do Ferrari have any kind of legal power advantage over Mercedes? Do they now, will they ever?
CHIKANO (@chikano)
8th October 2018, 6:50
@Ajaxn
I agree 100%
They had an illegal power advantage over the Silver Arrows. Once they were found out the very Legal and Mighty Merc PU reigned supreme along with sorting out other niggles on Aero. Hamilton also said they are understanding the car better
Wayne
7th October 2018, 19:53
Ferrari need to regroup. Some serious open sitdowns with no disciplinary action. I like what ToTo sed. At merc they ” see it say it fix it” i think he sed that…lol but im sure every1 wil get my point. That those who dropped the ball should be free to say so with out any reactionary warnings etc.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
7th October 2018, 21:36
This is all correct, there are rummors why this is, but nothing official.
Then Ferrari are fumbling their chances even more… Fact of the matter is they are P2 even with a great strategy, quali everything.
Then they overdrive (atleast Vettel does) and fail allover the place.
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
8th October 2018, 4:16
A more accurate headline would be Hamilton surprised Vettel has “lost a lot of performance.”
Not necessarily Ferrari……
wobs
8th October 2018, 9:29
Question, if Ferrari had been gaining performance illegally somehow, was it just the works team they had “tricks” taking place in the PU? They would need to keep a lot people at Haas and Sauber quiet too if all their PU’s had “tricks”.
K
9th October 2018, 3:36
Maybe we should put some sensors on mercs engine during races too. Seems they are the ones with more ‘tricks’ than Ferrari.