After suffering greatly in the sprint race on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton has ruled out winning the Brazilian Grand Prix and acknowledged that he might have made a mistake with the setup of his car.
The seven-time world champion started the race as high as fourth, but Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri passed him for seventh place at the finish line as his Mercedes rapidly chewed through its tires.
George Russell, his teammate, also experienced issues with tire wear as he dropped from second to fourth after the first lap and trailed Sergio Perez by more than ten seconds in third place.
The sudden lack of race pace comes as a shock to the Silver Arrows who have usually excelled on longer runs compared to its rivals and Hamilton has subsequently declared Sunday’s Grand Prix a lost cause for his chances of victory.
Hamilton: It was not enjoyable whatsoever
“Yeah, it was horrible. It was not enjoyable whatsoever,” Hamilton said to Sky Sports. “Had a good start and then after that, I just struggled with the balance, a lot of oversteer and then snap oversteer.
“I was just battling the car from the beginning, and in the end, I ran out of tires. I’m not sure how I’ll address that for tomorrow.
“There’s no doubt that tomorrow afternoon will be long. I can only presume that my setup is incorrect.
“This is how things are. I’ll give it everything I’ve got tomorrow, but we won’t prevail, that much is certain.
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