Formula 1: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was amazed by the speed advantage showed by Red Bull at the French GP, in the wake of completing second behind Max Verstappen, who continued his dominance in the F1 2022 season after winning his seventh Grand Prix of the season. Follow Formula 1 LIVE updates with InsideSport.IN
Talking after the race, Hamilton was shocked by the high speed of the Red Bull down the main straights and approached Mercedes to attempt to accomplish comparable execution. “I was trying to keep up with Max, but he’s just so fast,” Hamilton said.
“I was kind of keeping with him for maybe two laps, but I’m full blast down the straight and he’s pulling away. Meanwhile, I think today was one of the biggest straight-line deficits we’ve had. If you’re losing three or four tenths on the straights, there’s nothing you can do about that,” Hamilton added.
“So we’ve got to work to improve that for the future. I’m sure there’s a couple of other places that we could be better. If I had pushed them more, then maybe I wouldn’t have seen the end of the race in the same position. Moreover, I had to also keep the car one piece and keep the tyres there, so this is the best result we could get,” Hamilton further added.
Beginning from fourth on the grid, the Mercedes driver figured out how to get out in front of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez toward the beginning, prior to benefitting from Charles Leclerc’s accident to finish second.
Left it all out there today and P2 is a great result! First time up there with @GeorgeRussell63 as well. It’s so rewarding to see how far we’ve come since the beginning of the season. Still have work to do, but definitely going to enjoy this one !!! pic.twitter.com/64WH9bZX2g
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) July 24, 2022
The gap between Hamilton and Verstappen shut under the safety car period. However, as the race continued, Hamilton wouldn’t have the speed to challenge the Red Bull driver for the lead.
Mercedes have frequently been the third-quickest group this season and their consistent points scoring has placed them just 44 points behind Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.
Meanwhile, the Brackley-based group have benefitted from the misfortunes of Red Bull and Ferrari, yet they have sometimes tested the two groups in race trim. Hamilton had been seeking the triumph at Silverstone, with extra solid Mercedes shows coming at the Spanish and French GPs.
The seven-time champion added that while the one-lap pace is as yet missing from the Mercedes, he was satisfied to complete only ten seconds behind Verstappen in Paul Ricard. “This is progress, even though we’re not necessarily closing the gap as such in actual qualifying performance, but this is great points for us,” Hamilton added.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing every weekend, and we’re hoping that we’re going to get a little bit closer. This weekend we weren’t as close as we hoped, but he [Verstappen] was only 10 seconds up the road, so that’s a positive,” Hamilton concluded.
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