Lewis Hamilton is pessimistic about his chance of overtaking his team mate to win tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton was beaten to pole position by Nico Rosberg in the sister Mercedes and explained why he think it will be hard to pass his rival on the Interlagos circuit.
“It’s a very short track,” Hamilton told reporters after qualifying, “it’s very hard to follow here”.
“It’s not actually a great track to race at. It’s hard to follow through turn 11 [Mergulho] which means you’re far away by turn 12 [Juncao] and then by the time you’ve got the DRS it’s very hard to get up close. So it’s not the easiest place to overtake, but it’s not impossible.”
“When me and Nico are within a tenth of a second of each other the most likely option is going to be at the start and pit stops. Otherwise on track it’s very unlikely if at all it will happen.”
Hamilton was in a similar situation last year but lost his chance to get ahead of Rosberg when he spun while trying to pull out a gap over his team mate during the pit stops.
“The last race here I had a good shot at trying to win the race but I lost it with a mistake that I made,” he said. “So I guess the goal tomorrow is to try to avoid that and try to get up ahead.”
Andy (@andycz)
14th November 2015, 17:49
Excuses even before the race?
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
14th November 2015, 17:57
He’s being asked and he’s saying it like it is. You’d rather he kept the usual ‘I’ll push 100%’ bs ?
dan
14th November 2015, 19:35
Did you watch Brazil last year? Hamilton cleary looked like he had more paceyet could do nothing. It seems Hamilton has the edge in final sector though so who knows. Ros is mighy in the first sector just like last year.
medman
15th November 2015, 5:28
You do know he’s a 3 times world champion, right??
Owen Smart (@smartez)
14th November 2015, 18:06
How can he say that it’s not easy to overtake and that it’s not a great track to race at??
Has he forgotten about Brazil 2008, 2009 and 2012?
lockup (@)
14th November 2015, 18:14
He drove the race last year, and this year following is even harder.
It’s a short run to the first corner, then they can’t follow. The tyres aren’t lasting and Merc won’t allow the second-place driver to pit first.
So Nico does a long enough first stint to take the speed out of Lewis’ tyres, does a quick outlap on his new tyres – job done. It really needs sprinklers.
dan
14th November 2015, 19:40
@ lockup i agree completey. People must have missed last year. Hamilton needs to have similar pace too last year and hope thy box Nico early then Hamilton can try what he tried lastyear wo binning it. I would sty 2 secs behind untill a few laps before the pitstop as then he can go longer. Sometimes i wonder why they dont stay out for alot longer even if he loses time. If Hamilton has the pace why not sty out for 10 laps extra still come out behind but have much fresher tyres.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
14th November 2015, 22:21
Rain.
AceAce
14th November 2015, 18:14
I’ve got an gut feeling Vettel and Kimi are going to spring a surprise now that Williams look like they’ll have a tough one.
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
14th November 2015, 18:57
More like Toto and Paddy have told Lewis that after winning the title on Austin, not to rub Nico’s nose in it that he is just a number 2 and let him win a few as a ‘pick me up’ after what has been a pretty damming defeat this season.
PLEASE NOTE
This is just a joke, this post is in no way meant to be taken seriously
falken (@falken)
14th November 2015, 19:44
Why wouldn’t the team ask the driver who’s already won to help his team mate secure 2nd for the team ?
Todfod (@todfod)
15th November 2015, 5:23
Because jokes are hypothetical
BasCB (@bascb)
15th November 2015, 10:29
I don’t think for a second that anyone would even imagine telling Hamilton to win LESS. And Rosberg would be the first to be annoyed at any such hint, because he would know all too well, that it was not really a win. Second would be Hamilton, off course he wants to win.
I think this is more a way to try and Lull Nico into feeling secure about winning before he gets a good go at him during the first corner, first lap and then tries it in the pitstops. He was close enough last year, no reason to think he won’t at least try it again this year.
DamonW
14th November 2015, 19:42
Well you know the solution to that Lewis…. Make sure you’re on pole.
Tbh Hamilton has been far from Senna-esque these last 5 races…..
markp
14th November 2015, 22:11
More like Prost. Ok in quali awesome in races?
Damonw
14th November 2015, 23:23
Don’t get me wrong Hamilton is a great Qualifier but Senna was leagues ahead of his rivals, Lewis isn’t.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
15th November 2015, 2:27
Oh come off it. He was P2 by 0.078, that’s hardly a shellacking. He’s not had bad qualifying sessions in all the past 5 rounds, Nico has just been that little bit quicker for one reason or another, as much as it pains me to say that, but it’s not like Lewis has been qualifying well below what the car can deliver.
Gotta love the media trying to make it out as if it’s a massive momentum shift. Nico has won one race in the past nine races, and all of a sudden Nico is “back to winning ways”. Right. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
DamonW
15th November 2015, 10:08
Maybe it’s a coincidence but Hamilton hasn’t looked all too great at qualifying since the mandated rise in tyre pressures….
BasCB (@bascb)
15th November 2015, 10:32
Strange isn’t it @tophercheese21. When both of them clearly went all out and got probably as much out of the car as it would give (proven by the small difference between them) instead of just awknoleding that one of them was just the better by a smidgen, people feel the need to say how the other was completely destroyed.
I think we should see how its great that these two guys are as close on pace and giving us a fight for pole – shame Rosberg was not able to show such pace earlier in the year, but at least we see him doing it now to make the last few races tight!