Mercedes believes Lewis Hamilton might have finished the Spanish Grand Prix of Formula 1 closer to Red Bull/McLaren.
Mercedes claims that its defeat against Red Bull and McLaren in the Spanish Grand Prix of Formula 1 does not accurately reflect its capabilities.
In Spain, Lewis Hamilton secured his first podium finish this season outside of a sprint, coming in third behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Although the top two were only separated by 2.2 seconds at the finish, Hamilton finished 15 seconds behind, indicating that there is still much space for development.
But because Hamilton backed off in the last few laps, Mercedes head Toto Wolff claims that the outcome is not representative of what his team is capable of achieving.
This was due to the fact that he had no purpose for pushing because he couldn’t catch up to the cars in front of him and could stay safe from behind while teammate George Russell struggled on the slower hard tyres.
While there wasn’t much of a gap in final pace between Hamilton and Norris throughout the first two stints, analysis of his times revealed that the Mercedes driver was much slower during the third lap on softs.
Early in the stint, Hamilton was just three or four tenths behind Norris; however, when he closed the gap, it occasionally increased to more than a second each lap.
Wolff remarked, “When you look where we ended up, obviously George on the hard was the wrong strategy,” in reference to the Mercedes performance. We had a slow stop with three seconds because it was evident that was on the team.
“However, Lewis was 15 seconds behind the leaders when he started to slow down toward the finish, so maybe round that down to 10 seconds—that’s much closer.
Max and Norris weren’t being restrained by them. Thus, yes, there’s cause for cautious optimism given how much closer we are and how well we can fight.”
Following Mercedes’ most competitive race of the year, in which the German automaker locked out the second row of the field and finished third and fourth in the race ahead of Ferrari, Hamilton took the podium.
But Wolff is certain that Red Bull and McLaren are currently in a league of their own.
Wolff remarked, “The McLaren looked very quick.” “How soon? Max seems to always have a little cash on hand, and it’s evident that he makes a difference.
“There’s not much separating these two right now, but they are definitely these two. They are unquestionably establishing the standard.”
Additionally, he believes that Mercedes’ lead over the leaders is actually only a few tenths behind.
“I think what you’ve seen [in qualifying and the race] is that the gap is probably around three-tenths to these two,” he said. That is the thing lacking.
“I think what you’ve seen [in qualifying and the race] is that the gap is probably around three-tenths to these two,” he said. That is the thing lacking.
“We might be in the race for the win if we can bridge that, especially because they probably upgraded the car as well. However, that isn’t yet on the hands.
“Yes, given the circumstances, we could have won Montreal. However, it’s likely that we startled ourselves by realizing that we could, which is why we made the error there.”