Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Hamilton: “I couldn’t go any faster”
Mercedes had a complicated Friday by not even being in the top 10 this afternoon!
Storm brewing at Mercedes on this Friday evening. Indeed, things are not looking good for the seven-time world champion team. Already outpaced on the streets of Monaco two weeks ago, the scenario seems to be repeating itself in Baku, despite the huge straight line that gave a significant advantage to its engine.
Andrew Shovlin summarized the situation as follows: “It was our worst Friday by far! Our biggest problem seems to be the pace on a single lap. We are far from our usual positions. So we clearly need to find something.”
In line with his scathing remarks in the Principality, Lewis Hamilton did not try to hide the difficulties encountered by his team: « We have clean relays and have worked on what we wanted during the two sessions. It’s simply not very fast! The car was performing better in the first session but in the second, I couldn’t go faster. I was pushing hard but we struggled to have grip. » <a href="/f1/actualite/25152-grand-prix-dazerbaidjan-essais-libres-2-sergio-perez-domine-la-seance-mercedes-a-la-peine.html" title="Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Sergio Perez dominates the session, Mercedes struggling."
"He thus found himself a full second behind the leading Red Bull, that of Sergio Perez! He had to settle for eleventh place while the penalty was even worse for Valtteri Bottas, 16th more than two seconds behind."
Are we going to experience a weekend like Singapore in 2015 when the Silver Arrows stumbled in qualifying during a season they were clearly dominating?
But one should never underestimate the team's ability to react, especially since their racing pace seems satisfactory. On a track that offers overtaking opportunities, even missed qualifications might not be prohibitive. On the other hand, the show could be beautiful if the two drivers had to make their way up the field.
