ON YOUR MERCS!
Hamilton: It’s amazing... we finally have a car we can
LEWIS HAMILTON believes Mercedes finally have “a car they can fight with” as qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix showed this season may not be a onehorse race.
While reigning world champion Max Verstappen secured pole position, the times were closer than they have been in years, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc just 0.228 seconds behind.
Mercedes’ George Russell will start third, with Hamilton ninth – but just 0.225 seconds behind his team-mate.
Hamilton, who has one season remaining at Mercedes before his move to Ferrari, said: “George’s position and pace really highlights – and is a real testament to the team – how hard everyone has worked over the winter.
“It’s amazing to have a car we can fight with. It really lights the fire and flame within us drivers.
“Me and George were on the same set-ups but he went left and I went right.
Right was definitely not good for a single lap but I felt more comfortable with more fuel, so I hope that reflects on
Saturday. I’ve definitely sacrificed more than I hoped to and I hope it pays off. It’s a lot of work to do to get past all those quick cars ahead of me but it will be fun.” Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate was also left in high spirits and said: “Everybody at the factory has done an amazing job to give Lewis and I a car that we feel much happier with and a base we can build upon. “Ultimately, Max is still out there in front and we still have a lot of catching up to do.
“When we look at our qualifying performances in the last two years in Bahrain and the race pace, starting in P3 is a great place.
“There’s been a huge amount of work. We have made a big step forward in one lap pace and we hope we haven’t compromised the race pace.”
‘It’s testament to the team – this really lights the fire and flame with us drivers’
The focus on race pace was confirmed by team principal Toto Wolff. Addressing the reasons for the gap between his two drivers, he noted: “Tiny margins. You get a tyre in the optimum window, it’s just two, three-tenths difference and then you’re right in the game. The set-up changes contributed to the performance.”
Mercedes were not the only team that looked a threat to Red Bull and Verstappen off the back of qualifying.
Leclerc moved within a tenth of Verstappen’s best time on used soft tyres during the first set of Q3 runs, but could not pip the Dutchman to pole on the final runs.
Expressing his frustrations, Leclerc said:
“I’m a bit disappointed.
But yeah, we did a good qualifying. It’s been a tricky weekend until now. We were trying quite a few things in practice and then I found the sweet spot in qualifying. Q1 was a bit tricky.
“Unfortunately we put on two new sets of softs, which compromised a little bit the Q3, but all in all it’s quite a good qualifying, a good start of the year.
“We are in a better place compared to a year ago, so that is good. Now we have to see the race pace.”