Hamilton targets pole to ‘limit losses’ after 10-place grid penalty
Lewis Hamilton said he now “needed” to qualify fastest for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix in order to “limit his losses”, after his Mercedes team chose to take a fourth engine of the season yesterday, a decision which incurred a 10-place grid penalty for their driver in tomorrow’s race.
Speculation had been rife that Mercedes might elect to take a grid penalty at a track where Hamilton stands a good chance of making his way back through the field.
And despite the driver denying that was the plan when asked on Thursday, confirmation of their decision came early during first practice yesterday morning.
Hamilton will only give up 10 places, rather than drop all the way to the back of the grid, as his Red Bull rival Max Verstappen did in Russia last time out, because he has taken only one power-unit component – the internal combustion engine – as opposed to the full power unit. But it will still make his task exponentially harder, especially with Mclaren and Ferrari looking increasingly competitive and therefore difficult to pass.
The 36-year-old nevertheless sounded confident after topping both practice sessions, on a day when Red Bull laboured slightly, Verstappen only able to go fifth fastest in the afternoon as he struggled with his car’s balance. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner promised his team would be “burning the midnight oil” overnight, and it would be a major surprise if Verstappen did not unlock the car’s true pace when it matters.
Hamilton, who tops the drivers’ championship by just two points, said he too would need to find improvements if he was to stand any chance of retaining his lead.
“I don’t know how much more there is, but we always find something during the evening, so I think I will be able to find some more overnight and into tomorrow – if it’s not raining – and then I have a lot of work to do on Sunday either way, whatever the weather, so I am just going to focus on me,” he said.
“I need to be on pole to limit the loss, and then I need to understand the car to be able to do the best in terms of the long run.
“Ferrari are going to be hard to pass, as are Renault and Mclaren. Ferrari seem to be improving throughout the year.”