There were testing times in Monaco for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes as the British driver and his team struggled to extract the maximum from their car, before what is shaping up to be a tight battle with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel on the streets of Monte Carlo. Hamilton was well out-paced by his rival in second practice and he and the team were at a loss to explain why.
Buoyed by his win at the last round in Spain, having come back after an indifferent weekend in Russia when he could not find the right set-up for his car, Hamilton had been optimistic that Mercedes had moved further forward and were well-prepared for Monaco. He was fastest in the morning session on a track that was still green, undergoing the first running of the week, but he remained only two-tenths better than Vettel over the session with the quick runs set on the ultrasoft tyres.
The afternoon proved to be a different story. Making the best of the new 2017-spec cars, Vettel put in the fastest ever lap of the street circuit, 1min 12.720sec, and was over four-tenths clear of the second-placed car, Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull.
Hamilton could manage only eighth place and was over a second back from Vettel. “We didn’t have the greatest day today. Practice one was actually really good and we were quickest, but then in second practice we just struggled to extract the grip from the tyres and we were sliding around a lot,” he said. The three-time world champion trails Vettel by six points in the world championship and was hoping to put his nose in front at Monaco.
His team-mate Valtteri Bottas, fourth in the morning session, had similar problems and was 10th in the afternoon. The Mercedes has had issues working its tyres all season: bringing them into the right temperature of their operating window has proved difficult and the window itself narrow. This was something they hoped upgrades in Barcelona had addressed and victory there suggested they had been successful. But set-up changes between the two sessions in Monaco have taken the car in the opposite direction. Even when they switched to the ultrasofts at the end of the session it made no appreciable difference.
“I’m not sure why the tyres weren’t working but the difference between the two sessions was night and day,” said Hamilton. “We’ve got some work to do ahead of Saturday that’s for sure but I’m confident the team can work it out.”
Vettel too was perplexed as to the reasons behind Mercedes’ drop in form. “I don’t know what happened to them today, it was a bit weird,” he said. “I was pretty happy in the afternoon. In the morning, I was maybe a bit wild, touching the walls a couple of times but the afternoon seemed a bit better. Around here, it’s important to have a good feel for the car, get the lap together. You can’t always go with the one time you set at the end of the day but we managed to put it together and we’re quite happy.”
Hamilton’s team-mate acknowledged that Mercedes had not made the right adjustments, the first time the new wider, faster cars with more durable Pirelli rubber have raced here. “We made some changes between practice one and practice two but we clearly went in the wrong direction – that’s why both of us were struggling,” said Bottas.
Mercedes have one more session on Saturday morning to find form again before qualifying and are looking to address the cause with some urgency. “After a very positive morning session with both cars and drivers, the afternoon proved more difficult and we clearly took a step in the wrong direction with the car set-up over the break,” said their technical director James Allison, “We will have a good think about it tomorrow in order to put things right for Saturday. But I think we can be encouraged by the pace and consistency that we were able to demonstrate in free practice one.”
Jenson Button, returning from retirement for one race to replace Fernando Alonso who is competing at the Indy 500 this weekend, took to the wheel of the McLaren with a very solid performance.
Button had not driven the new cars before and there had been some scepticism at how well he would manage, having only done simulator time before this week. However the 2009 world champion eased back into the seat with relative aplomb. He was 14th fastest in the first session and 12th in the second. Crucially both runs were without incident and in the afternoon he was just three-hundredths back on his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne, who has been in the car all season.
Monaco is a circuit at which the McLaren’s power deficit is negated and Button and the team know this is a prime opportunity to score their first points of the season.
Earlier Hamilton said he has no intention of entering a psychological battle with Sebastian Vettel. Just six points separate the two drivers at the top of the table and with their respective Mercedes and Ferrari cars usually closely matched, the season is likely to be nip and tuck between the pair throughout. But the British driver, who has been revelling in the competition, is insistent he does not want mind games to detract from their on-track fight.
“I take a lot of pride in the fact I am very strong mentally,” Hamilton said. “I think that’s something you can admire when battling someone else like Sebastian or Fernando Alonso.”
Over the previous three seasons his relationship with his former team-mate Nico Rosberg deteriorated and there was an element of mind-games between the pair, but Hamilton has already stressed that the competition with another team makes for a very different dynamic. Specifically he has been clear that he is enjoying this competition, in stark contrast to the battle with Rosberg, and that he wants his fight to remain above board with Vettel.
“I want him to be his best when he gets in the car so I don’t have any intention of playing psychological wars outside the car,” he said. “I want to beat him in the car because when he’s at his best and I beat him, that says what it needs to say rather than having him on the back foot.”
Hamilton did acknowledge, however, that an element of mental competition would be likely to become part of their contest as the season went on.
“It’s definitely going to be part of it this year for both of us,” he said. “It’s such a long year, just like it is in golf over 18 holes – whoever is the most consistent generally ends up winning. I am excited about that, it’s an all-round battle, physically, mentally, technically, and I think that’s why it’s a great battle.”
In Barcelona Vettel squeezed Hamilton wide on turn one at the Circuit de Catalunya, which Hamilton referred to as dangerous at the time, a remark he later conceded was made in the heat of the moment, concluding their fight had been “awesome”.
The advantage Mercedes enjoyed for the past three years has meant that the team was not pushed strategically. With Ferrari now on a par in terms of race pace, the situation is more complex and the Scuderia has come out of the blocks with some inventive and aggressive tactical decisions. Consequently the competitive yet positive relationship between the two drivers had been picked up by the team, Hamilton noted.
“There’s just so much more excitement now that we are fighting against another team,” he said. “There is actually more passion and excitement being extracted from within the team. I’ve not seen this team so passionate and excited in the five years that I’ve been with them. Being on the podium in the last race, I saw an energy from my team that I’ve been yearning for, that they’ve probably all been yearning for in the time that we’ve been racing.”
