Lewis Hamilton achieved his top performance of the season in Barcelona while Mercedes continued to excel at the Spanish Grand Prix. However, following the race, the seven-time world champion delivered a somber statement.
Lewis Hamilton commented that Mercedes reached their highest level in Barcelona and he acknowledged that he still lacks a vehicle that can outperform Red Bull. The seven-time Formula 1 champion achieved his top performance and first podium of the year on Sunday by finishing in third place.
However, he was still about 18 seconds behind Max Verstappen, who narrowly beat Lando Norris to win his seventh race of 2024.
Team-mate George Russell was fourth as Mercedes provided more evidence of their improvements in recent weeks. And while Hamilton is pleased with the progress being made, he feels there is plenty more work to be done if he is to win again before leaving for Ferrari next season.
He said: “I think that’s the maximum [the car has] got at the moment. We’re always fine-tuning it with subtle changes that we make… But we need to bolt some stuff on, some extra bits to be able to compete with these guys.
Given our history, I believe that aiming for consistency and striving to improve our position in the points standings should be our main goal. We should focus on having more weekends like this one, where we perform consistently.
However, at this point, we are not in a position to challenge for wins. “I hope that we can continue to get closer to them and make it more difficult for them in the upcoming four or five races,” Hamilton stated.
He also achieved his highest qualifying result of the year so far by grabbing third place on the grid, one spot ahead of Russell. It was only the second occasion this year that he achieved a quicker time than his teammate, highlighting the lack of one-lap speed in Mercedes cars as a major weakness.
He expressed his concern about his performance during qualifying, feeling that he had underperformed. “It’s all about how you look at it – perhaps they simply made progress, but personally, I believe there was a little extra. However, when you begin to accelerate the car, it doesn’t respond well.
In reality, when you give yourself a slight buffer, the car handles smoothly.” “But the difficulty arises when you rely heavily on it to push for better lap times, that’s when we face challenges.
It seems to be related to the tires,” said Russell. He is also certain that Mercedes has solidified their position as a contender against the top three teams.
He mentioned that they have been consistently competing for the top positions on the grid and podium finishes in the last few races.
He finds it thrilling to witness the improvements they have made and believes they can continue to progress from this point.
