Hamilton baffled with tyre issues at Spanish GP

Lewis Hamilton was battling the likes of Saubers and Toro Rossos.

“I can’t go any slower” followed by a “And now I’ve been passed by a Williams!” were but a few surprises Lewis Hamilton faced during the Spanish Grand Prix.

The British driver qualified second behind teammate Nico Rosberg, but failed to capitalise on the situation and eventually ended the race in 12th. Nico, meanwhile, finished sixth.

The former world champion admits that the problem lay in the tyres and that Mercedes have enough quality to sort it out.

“I don’t understand what it is – it’s obviously the tyres,” said Hamilton.

“It’s something to do with how you prepare the tyres, or use the tyres, or something like that. It seemed to work quite well in Bahrain, but didn’t in Barcelona, so it’s something we haven’t quite caught on to just yet. But it’s nothing to do with me as a driver. It’s about what we do before we get in the car.

“In the race there was no grip. I was just sliding around on all fours, just tip-toeing around. It didn’t matter whether I went slow or fast, it didn’t do anything different. It was very, very strange. One of the strangest feelings I’ve had for a long time.

“We had a long discussion about it afterwards and we just have to understand what went wrong and how we can improve it for the upcoming races,” he added.

“It’s not rocket science. Ferrari and Lotus have done it, and we just need to do it, and I’m sure we will at some point.

“If we all pull together, which we have been doing all year, but now is more important than ever, particularly after a race like the one we had.

“We need to take a step back, look at what happened objectively, and try to figure it out,” he concluded.

The teams now head to Monaco for the Grand Prix held in the Circuit de Monte Carlo, a race where Mercedes have been strong in previous years.