Lewis Hamilton revealed that the Mercedes W13 has a fundamental issue that will take time to resolve. Speaking at the FIA Drivers’ Press Conference at the Bahrain GP, the Briton expressed satisfaction with his third-place result but admitted his team had a lot of improvements to make.
Evaluating Mercedes’ performance through the weekend, Lewis Hamilton said:
“We’ve learned a lot from this week. Their [Ferrari’s] straight-line speed as well as the Bulls were very quick in a straight line and their performance through corners is quite a bit different to us. The car was very hard to drive but it could have been worse. I’m hoping for the next race we manage to find some improvements but it’s a fundamental issue that’s going to take a little bit longer I think to fix.”
Revealing that the Mercedes W13 was difficult to maneuver and struggled through the weekend, the Silver Arrows’ ace driver hopes there will be improvements by the next race weekend in Jeddah.
The Mercedes driver ran fifth for the majority of the race before Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez retired in the penultimate moments. While the British driver believes the Bahrain GP result was motivating for the team after weeks of struggling, he acknowledged the need for improvement in the races to come.
Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes have their work cut out despite positive result
The Mercedes champion believes the team has a lot of improvements to make in the next few weeks despite the satisfactory result. While it was a great start to the season, Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes have a significant performance deficit compared to their rivals on that front.
Acknowledging the pitfalls on the performance side, the Briton said:
“We have a lot of work to do, we have quite a deficit in performance, but this is a great start still.”
On being asked if the team will be more competitive in Jeddah, the British champion said:
“No, I don’t think so.”
According to the Mercedes champion, his team have their work cut out and might not be competitive the following race weekend in Saudi Arabia either. The Briton believes that the performance gap to Red Bull and Ferrari is significant, which makes it harder to reduce the deficit quickly.
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