Lewis Hamilton has performed consistently well in qualifying sessions in his career but has struggled over the last two seasons and a former champion thinks he knows why.
Former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve believes he knows why Lewis Hamilton has been struggling in qualifying. The Mercedes star has not won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, the race before he missed out on being an eight-time world champion in controversial fashion in Abu Dhabi.
The 38-year-old only finished sixth in the driver’s standings in 2022, the lowest of his career. He is currently third in the 2023 driver standings and he has been more competitive in the current campaign than the last. But the British driver’s results have been far fro the levels he became accustomed to as the Silver Arrows continue to try and find ways to compete with front-runners Red Bull.
Furthermore, while he has been able make up for it more often than not on race day, Hamilton has been struggling during qualifying sessions, which is uncharacteristic for the seven-time champion. But Villeneuve, who is in Las Vegas for the city’s inaugural F1 race on Sunday, has explained why that may be the case – suggesting teammate George Russell is “better” when it comes to setting the car up.
During a conversation in the pit lane of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Canadian stated, “It seems to be a peaky car, with a very small window of operation and it’s very hard to set up. George seems to be better than that.” “Keep in mind that Lewis drove a simple vehicle with additional horsepower from the other cars on the grid for a considerable amount of time. They would still prevail even if they lacked the ideal setup or strategy. You need to start the process because you’re not used to having to go back to get the final tenth.
In the second qualifying session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Hamilton was eliminated and was only able to finish in P11. Since then, after replacing his engine battery and receiving a 10-place grid penalty, he has been promoted to P10.
Hamilton has crashed out of qualifying in the second round three times this season, and the frustrated driver claimed that the car was not performing to his expectations on the track. Simply put, not that good. We were looking fairly competitive yesterday and we were feeling a little bit better,” Hamilton said.
Made some adjustments over night. P3 was really subpar and put me on the back foot. I was essentially trying to recover in qualifying, which is never the right situation to do so. Just found it difficult to hold on. For me, the car was simply not functioning. When you can’t even finish Question 2, it can be challenging, but that’s life.
Mercedes is one of the slowest vehicles in the speed traps right now, and they have been having trouble getting their tires warm and performing at their peak when needed. The cold temperatures in Las Vegas have made tire management and degradation difficult for all teams. Long straightaways and slow-speed corners on the circuit compound the Silver Arrows’ issues.
Toto Wolff, the team principal, commented on the difficulties Mercedes is facing, saying, “Our pace remains a mystery.” You can see the difference with the tires in the right window. That was evident in Free Practice Three already. extremely challenging to comprehend. Lewis was gripping nothing.
We are discussing a temperature differential of four or five degrees between grip and no grip. As you can see, some teams—like McLaren—who typically finish first are eliminated in the first quarter. Conversely, the Ferraris ran incredible lap times. They were both thirty seconds ahead of schedule.”
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