Hamilton hails Mercedes car as ‘fantastic’
Published on: Saturday, May 25, 2019
By: AFP
MONACO: Lewis Hamilton has hailed his mourning Mercedes team and says the performances of the car itself are ‘fantastic’ ahead of qualifying on Saturday for Sunday’s 77th Monaco Grand Prix.The defending five-time world champion and his Silver Arrows team-mate Valtteri Bottas were seven-tenths of a second clear of third-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari after Thursday’s opening sessions.
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“I’m surprised,” he said. “I don’t know where all the time has come from—I don’t know if Max (Verstappen) maybe didn’t get in a time or what, but the performance we have here is fantastic.
“We’re constantly improving this car and understanding it and understanding the tyre. I guess that’s why you’re seeing the performance advantage we have.”
A similar performance in Saturday’s qualifying session would give the team a near-perfect opportunity to extend their triumphant season-opening run to six one-two finishes.
On an overcast morning on the traditional rest day at the classic ‘blue riband’ event, celebrating the 90th anniversary of its inaugural run in 1929, the paddock was busy as teams prepared for possible mixed weather conditions for Saturday’s critical qualifying.
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Hamilton, a formidable street track racer, is aiming for a third Monaco win to boost his lead in the drivers’ championship in which he has 112 points, seven more than team-mate Bottas on 105.
In the week of Niki Lauda’s death Merecedes want to honour the memory of their late non-executive chairman with a notable win.
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Hamilton, who withdrew from Wednesday’s pre-race news briefing because he felt too emotional to attend, stayed focussed on his driving after Thursday’s sessions.
His team’s chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin added a note of caution when he warned of concerns about how long it was taking for their cars to warm up their soft tyres for qualifying laps.
“Our number one concern is getting the soft tyre to work on the first lap,” he explained. “Our headline times were good, but it took us a lot of laps to get there and qualifying is so important at this track.”
He added that the team’s reserve driver Esteban Ocon was working in a simulator to assist in finding a solution.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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