Hamilton says his Mercedes team is far off pace at start of season

Lewis Hamilton said Thursday his Mercedes team is so far off the pace at the start of the Formula One season that the seven-time champion needs three teams to fall out of a race just for him to have a chance to win.

Red Bull dominated the seasonopener in Bahrain two weeks ago with a 1-2 finish from two-time defending world champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Fernando Alonso finished a surprising third for Aston Martin and Carlos Sainz Jr. was fourth for Ferrari.

Hamilton was about 51 seconds behind Verstappen in fifth, while teammate George Russell finished 56 seconds back in seventh. Both finishes would have been worse had Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s engine not failed near the end.

“We’re not fighting for a (title). We need the Red Bulls not to finish the race, and the Ferraris not to finish the race and maybe now the Astons not to finish the race, for us to be winning at the moment,” Hamilton said ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Hamilton is tied with Michael Schumacher with an F1 record seven titles and is F1’s winningest driver with 103 victories and 103 poles. He failed to win a race last year for the first time in his F1 career, which began in 2007.

Hamilton was critical of Mercedes after the opening race, saying it didn’t listen to him about the development of this year’s car. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff acknowledged in Bahrain that Mercedes made a mistake in car development after Russell won its only race last year. Mercedes struggled with the ground effect known as “porpoising “and Russell was fourth in the 2022 standings, Hamilton was sixth.