Following his Friday qualifying run for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton bounced up to eighth place on the grid and called on Mercedes to rectify his car.
The team believed that the handling issue had finally resolved, but the seven-time Formula One world champion claimed that it was still bothering him for the third consecutive year.
“It was comparable to years past. “We are being hampered by the bouncing we have, but there are so many better elements of this car,” the British driver, who will be joining Ferrari in 2019, said to Sky Sports.
“The automobile felt so much better this morning after we made some adjustments over night. When we got to qualifying, the confidence I had been building again vanished.”We’ve attempted every setup modification, yet still persists. The greatest-ever driver in the sport continued, “It’s hard to explain.” “We had some bouncing in Bahrain but nowhere near as intense as here.”
Hamilton claimed he truly suffered in the first ultra-fast section of the Corniche circuit and nearly missed the final top 10 shootout.
“If you imagine when the car goes up and down at the back, your balance shifts forwards and rearwards,” he explained. “If you are doing that at 160 or 170mph, correcting that each time…”It has to be fixed. This is the third year in a row. We must take action immediately.”
The 103rd triumph of Hamilton’s career came in Saudi Arabia in 2021, the year Jeddah made its appearance on the calendar.
George Russell, a teammate, qualified sixth.
The Austrian driver said, “The drivers are struggling to squeeze out the lap consistently.” Team boss Toto Wolff said the car was quick but on a knife-edge. “We’re still trying to understand this car because we saw it in P2 (second practice) in Bahrain, we were P1 and P2 (first and second),” he said. “I was P3 and P4 yesterday in practice and the pace was looking good.”
Alan Baldwin wrote this in London, and Ken Ferris edited it.
