After his difficulties at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has not hidden the fact that he is counting down the days until Mercedes’ W14 is eliminated.
After experiencing problems with tire degradation in the Interlagos sprint, Hamilton said ominously that the Silver Arrows would have a lengthy race on Sunday.
His forecast came true as the seven-time world champion was surpassed in his faltering machine by Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.
In fact, the winding circuit exposed the W14’s poor straight-line speed, and George Russell was forced to retire due to a power unit issue.
In the end, Hamilton managed to scrape into eighth place, and after the race, he acknowledged that he was relieved that there were just two rounds left before his current opponent is dropped.
Hamilton: “We move a little slowly.”
When Sky Sports F1 reminded Hamilton of this, he responded, “Thank God!”
Then he gave a pessimistic appraisal of the W14’s inability to contend.
Hamilton remarked, “It didn’t feel as disastrous as yesterday.” “My tires were so worn out yesterday that I had none left. In terms of making the most of my tyre management, I think I drove a better race today.
We need to determine why the car is inconsistent throughout the lap and why it works at certain times and doesn’t at others.
“We’re pretty slow through the straights and pretty slow through the corners. One to forget, but hopefully there are lots of learnings from today.
“One thing the car is really unpredictable in the sense of one weekend it feels good, one session it feels good. I’m sure we’ll go and look at things and find out we should have done these differently.
“But with the one session, it’s difficult. Two more races with this thing and hopefully no more driving it!”
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