Lewis Hamilton says there was no point for Mercedes to start the race on soft tyres as they would inevitably be overtaken by the Ferraris even if they qualified ahead.
“I think the team did a great job to put us on the mediums,” said Hamilton, who qualified second for today’s race.“Naturally [between] the two tyres there’s obviously a delta and the softer the tyre the better the start. So it will be a little bit tough off the start.
“But even if we were in the lead, if we were on pole for example, they are just so fast on the straights by the time we get to turn one, which is the little kink, they blast past us with the jet fuel, whatever it is.”
Hamilton hopes running a different strategy to Ferrari will give Mercedes the opportunity to attack.
“It is about strategy, which is why we are on a different tyre and I hope that we can utilise that and keep the pressure on. If you’ve seen the couple of races we’ve had, we’ve been right with them, but I’m hoping we can really give them a good fight.”
Ferrari set the quickest times at the beginning of Q3 but Hamilton managed to split them and claim a place on the front row of the grid with his final run. He said he’s been pleased with his recent qualifying efforts even though he hasn’t taken pole position since the summer break.
“Honestly I feel like that maybe the last couple of [qualifying] laps have felt worthy, like pole-worthy, in terms of how this has come together and optimising within the car,” he said.
“Obviously they are faster than us and Charles [Leclerc] has done a good job. But I mean in terms of being as close to the limit as possible, I think I’ve just been getting more and more comfortable with the car, I think in this second half of the season. A little bit more comfortable with it, even though we’ve lost a little performance compared to them.
“But there’s still work to do collectively, in all of us, including myself so we just keep working on that. Please don’t write that the wrong way, pole-worthy, I was meaning in terms of putting the perfect lap together, I feel like each time I’m getting as close to that as possible and then you finish the lap and it’s quite a long way off pole but it feels like quite an achievement to get in between the two Ferraris who have a bit of a delta to us at the moment.”
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2019 F1 season
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- McLaren Racing reports reduced £71 million loss in 2019
- Kvyat: Hockenheim podium last year was “my biggest achievement” so far
- How the FIA’s new encrypted fuel flow meter targets Ferrari’s suspected ‘aliasing’ trick
- “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two
Raven
29th September 2019, 10:49
Come on, Lew, no excuses, everyone knows you are so brilliant you would still have won all those WDC in a Nissan Micra
Andy Bunting (@wildbiker)
29th September 2019, 11:41
The beyond intriguing part of this article.
“they blast past us with the jet fuel, whatever it is.”
Hmm…? SO! Ferrs have yet again found out how to 2 stroke the engine yet again without attracting “attention” as per the last time they were at it.
I refer you to the also “intriguing” double battery caper.
Of course it isn’t a hidden oil tanks!!!!
Ajaxn
29th September 2019, 11:59
If you read the Ferarri radio chatter from the last race, there was a few references to Oil settings, and Oil buttons, etc. I’m sure Mercedes would have analysised those messages to the Ferrari drivers.
If Ferrari aren’t burning oil again*, then they have found a way to inject extra fuel into their combustion when they need it. Maybe even have a special mix of fuel, or as Hamilton intimates ‘Jet Fuel’.
Its for the press to pick up on this and ask the probbing questions.
That said, Mercedes seems to have ‘turned down’ their engines. Its possible they are seeking to avoid DNF’s whilst running their old engines to their limits. If and when Mercedes upgrade to new engines, it will be on a track with strong overtaking.
Dave
29th September 2019, 13:31
If you’re going down that route, the implication is that Ferrari are injecting fuel of some kind into the exhaust and burning it there to increase the energy going into the turbine stage – in effect, a very small jet engine.
If that’s true, which it probably isn’t, it’s one of the cleverest tricks in motorsport history.
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th September 2019, 14:02
Shell is indeed working hard, and has done a lot over the last years to get on top of the initial Petronas fuelled mix of the Mercedes PU.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
29th September 2019, 12:36
Another hook-line-and-sinker success for Mercedes bait.
I’d like to sell you some magic beans.
anon
29th September 2019, 13:55
@ho3n3r, except that it was Red Bull who started rumours about Ferrari using exotic additives in their fuel mixture back in April, when they were making comments about Ferrari’s fuel having a rather strange sweet smell to it (Horner was comparing it to grapefruit, leading some to speculate that it was some sort of ethyl additive).
nase
29th September 2019, 12:05
@wildbiker
Intriguing? I’d call that boring and predictable. When Mercedes had the most powerful PU by far, it was all fair and just and not even worthy of a mention, 18 other drivers could “pole-worthy” the hell out of their cars without even dreaming of coming within a second of pole.
But now that the balance of power has shifted, having an opponent with a noticeable extra bit of grunt is definitely kind of unsporting. I mean, you think you drive perfectly, and someone else, who you think is inferior to you, gets pole. Suspicious, isn’t it?
So, no, seeing as this kind of opinion is wholly predictable from a driver who apparently thinks the world revolves around him (they all do to an extent, but very few of them have had as much of a reason to believe it really does as Lewis Hamilton), and therefore the exact opposite of interesting, much less intriguing.
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th September 2019, 14:04
Well, that’s a lot of stuff; it’s just turnaround from before when Red Bull did it, and Ferrari have been ‘they have the best PU’ in a way, not much different than Wolff saying he now finally has some of that same sort of feeling the Renault shod Red Bull had for years.
hamiledon
29th September 2019, 15:04
Ferrari can “blast past with the jet fuel”
Hahaha, it seems that jet fuel is not working during the races. You Joker.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
30th September 2019, 9:02
I can’t understand why when he has the fastest car (you know, like the last 100 years) it’s because he’s #blessed and they work 5 shifts in Brixley and Brackworth and he has the best fans but when someone else is 0.1″ faster THEY’RECHEEEATING