Lewis Hamilton described his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as “horrible”, and he doesn’t see a short-term resolution to his “painful” struggles this season at Ferrari.
A Dash victory in China urged Hamilton was beginning to familiarize yourself together with his new equipment after 12 years at Mercedes, however that has been adopted by grand prix outcomes of seventh, fifth and seventh over the previous three races. Following optimism in Bahrain that he clicked with the automotive throughout one stint, the complete weekend in Jeddah was troublesome and Hamilton was downbeat after ending over half a minute behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
“Nothing optimistic to take from [the race], apart from Charles ending on the rostrum, which is nice for the crew,” Hamilton stated.
“It was horrible. It was not pleasing in any respect. I used to be simply sliding round. First stint, huge understeer, automotive not turning, after which huge deg, after which the second stint, barely higher stability, however nonetheless simply no tempo. It was fairly unhealthy.
“I simply lacked grip, I lacked good stability. I used to be simply combating the automotive each nook, and nothing I did would work.”
After 5 races in six weeks, the following race in Miami is a standalone occasion on Could 4, however Hamilton doesn’t anticipate finding any important options to his difficulties in that point.
“[Leclerc] has been driving this automotive for a very long time, so he undoubtedly is aware of it fairly effectively. There’s a lot within the knowledge, for certain. Truthfully, it doesn’t look massively totally different within the knowledge, simply that you just’re slower by way of the corners.
“I believe I’ll wrestle with this in Miami. I don’t understand how lengthy I’ll wrestle for, but it surely’s undoubtedly painful … In the meanwhile there’s no repair. That is the way it’s going to be for the remainder of the 12 months. So it’s fairly painful.
“I don’t anticipate [a solution], however we do have barely totally different set-ups. We’ll need to look and see whether or not that set-up is the best way the automotive likes to be set. Him and his aspect are undoubtedly additionally doing job of it.”
Hamilton additionally described the bottom impact period of automotive that was launched in 2022 as “the worst” given the difficulties he’s confronted, however admits it’s not merely a case of trying on the automotive for solutions.
“No, it’s not. In qualifying it’s me, extracting efficiency. Within the race, I actually tried every part, and the automotive simply didn’t wish to go any faster.”
