Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes hasn’t got to the bottom of why it has struggled in recent races and may not do so before the end of the season.
The team was beaten by Ferrari and Red Bull in the last two races despite having won all of the previous four rounds.Hamilton said some of the team’s loss of pace is “still a mystery” but added there are “a lot of areas that we’ve understood.”
“It’s not always the case that you find all the solutions,” he explained.
“I am confident that everyone has worked as hard as they can to rectify it and to understand it. But it might still take this race or even the next race before we fully understand it.
“It just points to the fact that there’s still always lots of work to do, even at this point of the year there’s till things you can learn an improve, methods that you can apply to next year, particularly, which are going to be quite important. Even though they’ve not been great races they’ve been quite a steep learning curve for us.”
Hamilton admitted the team has “struggled” in the last two races. “I don’t really have an idea how it’s going to be the next couple of races and I can’t really explain to you why it’s been so difficult for us the last few races, particularly the last one.
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“I really am hopeful that we get in the car this weekend and it feels more normal and we are more competitive but we still have a job to do this weekend just to win the constructors’ title and so the focus remains exactly the same as it has done in the previous races.”
“We’ve come to another circuit which is quite hard on tyres, Brazil is always quite tough in that area, but we’ve not been terrible here. I think this track does work quite well with a more nimble, shorter car.
“But I’m hoping this weekend we can get the car into the right place, that we can fight the Red Bulls and Ferraris who have come back more into shooting range.
“Red Bull’s dominance in the last race was impressive and I’m sure they’ll be quick here this weekend as well. As will Ferrari. So it’s going to take everything and more. We’ll have to throw everything and the sink in.”
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2018 F1 season
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Bio
8th November 2018, 17:41
Get back the holed wheels, you may find the missing pace you are looking for…
David BR (@david-br)
8th November 2018, 17:51
It does seem like that they don’t want to admit that’s where the ‘mystery’ loss of performance lies, just in case Ferrari do contest past races.
Chaitanya
8th November 2018, 18:01
Its highly unlikely the Ferrari protest will stand if the FOM stewards give it a legal clarification for the weekend(this seems like a per race weekend deal that Mercs are getting clarification).
Neil
8th November 2018, 18:57
They only have a hour or so to protest after a race has ended.
Seb
8th November 2018, 20:13
Funny how he calls it a team ‘slump’ and ‘dominance’ from others when they win. But when hes cruises to countless wins in a massively dominant car, its all fair and square…
Dean
8th November 2018, 21:10
Yadda yadda…sigggghhhhhh.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
8th November 2018, 21:13
???
Merc is clearly having a slump. Last time out, Red Bull was dominant, a front row lock-out and on a different level during the race to Mercedes.
What exactly is your issue here?
grat
8th November 2018, 21:47
Lemme clarify something for you. When one team is dominant, it’s up to the other teams to raise their game. Otherwise, it’s not a championship.
Mercedes is in a slump, it is therefore, their responsibility to up their game.
The winning team is under no obligation to make their car worse so that the others can catch up.
anon
9th November 2018, 3:35
It’s because they aren’t using their trick wheels.
You could only imagine the outrage if Ferrari won the championship, then lost all their speed after removing their trick wheels.
People would be calling them cheats, saying the championship isn’t legitimate, claiming the FIA is corrupt, etc.
Not a peep from anyone though.
papaya
9th November 2018, 3:53
Let’s downgrade your car back to Singapore spec, it might works!
Jen
9th November 2018, 17:20
Good try Hammy. Truth is, Merc has kept you a step ahead in all but a few races…