Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE’RE MILES OFF THE PACE, ADMITS LEWIS
struggled to a hugely disappointing ninth position on the grid.
And after battling his way to a place behind the top four in a car he said has been a “nightmare” to drive, Hamilton declared: “Those guys ahead of us are in another league.”
One of those guys he was referring to was bitter rival Max Verstappen but the world champion had to be content with second spot on the grid after being pipped by Charles Leclerc (above) of Ferrari.
Leclerc’s team-mate Carlos Sainz Jnr will start third and Red Bull’s No.2 driver Sergio Perez fourth.
And Hamilton dismissed notions that he will be challenging ANY of the drivers ahead of him on today’s grid, saying: “These guys [Red Bull and Ferrari] will be going ahead – we are not in the fight with them. My battle is with the guys behind us. Their performance was quite a bit ahead of us.”
Such had been his struggles in testing and in practice that Hamilton was happy to record a lap time that was almost seven tenths of a second slower than the one set by
Leclerc.
Hamilton said: “I’m really happy with the day compared to where we’ve been in the last two weeks.
It has been a bit of a nightmare to drive but we kept working and I’m proud of everyone.” While a Ferrari driver is on pole, most people in the paddock at the Sakhir circuit believe the Red Bulls will dominate the race itself – and the early stages of the season.
And that includes Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal.
He said: “As it stands, Red Bull is in a league of its own. We would love to be a second quicker and driving into the sunset but that’s not the case.”
And when asked to be more specific about what parts of the car were giving Mercedes particular trouble, Wolff gave a sarcastic smile, saying: “It’s easier to say what works… it is less items.”
Although Mercedes were trying to put a brave face on things after qualifying, it was a disappointing start to his time as Hamilton’s team-mate for Russell.
The 24-year-old from King’s Lynn made mistakes in Q3 and ended up more than
1.6 seconds behind Leclerc.
He said: “We know we’re not where we want to be. P9 is much lower down than where the car is.
“I feel like we are going one step forward, two steps back. We’re so focused on solving the over-arching issue of the car that it’s difficult to nail down the details and fine-tune the thing.”
There was also bad news for another Brit as McLaren driver Lando Norris was eliminated after Q2 and will start 13th on the grid.