Lewis Hamilton has said he is determined to solve the problems that have stymied his bid for a fourth Formula One world championship after a difficult weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix. The British driver could manage only seventh place in Monte Carlo and will go to the Mercedes factory at Brackley to address the performance weaknesses that have cost him vital points in his battle with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel won in Monaco, beating his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen into second place, although Ferrari’s pit strategy was interpreted as deliberately favouring the German. Hamilton had struggled to get his tyres into the correct operating window temperature all weekend and failed to reach the final qualifying session as a result. Starting from 13th on the grid and with overtaking difficult at Monaco, his task was damage limitation and he was happy with the result. However, he now trails Vettel by 25 points in the title race and was clear that he could not afford to suffer similar problems again.
“I’ll be pushing and the guys will be pushing to fully understand because we don’t want to be in this position,” Hamilton said. “One more race like this and we will be much further behind.
“We’ve definitely got to improve in understanding the car. I am going to the factory this week. We are under no illusion that we are not perfect and have still got areas to improve on. We still believe we can win this thing, 25 points is a long way away. Bit by bit we will try to chip away.”
What is of concern for Hamilton and Mercedes is that he has experienced similar problems twice this season and on both occasions neither affected his team-mate Valtteri Bottas as badly. In Sochi, Hamilton also struggled for grip and both qualified and finished fourth while Bottas started from third on the grid and won the race. Bottas, too, struggled with finding the window in Monte Carlo but again it did not affect his weekend as adversely, qualifying in third and finishing fourth.
“That’s really what I have got to try to understand this week,” Hamilton said. “There’s so many things we have got to look into to try to understand why one car could make it work and the other couldn’t. I will definitely look into it.”
The problem is a pressing one, not least because the Sochi and Monaco circuits at which he has experienced difficulties share characteristics with the next round in Canada on 11 June. Montreal is also a low-abrasion, low-grip surface with short duration corners and is also utilising the same tyre selection – including the ultrasofts that are the most problematic for Hamilton. This will now be the focus of his attention when returning to the UK.
“As we get on top of that ultrasoft then it puts us in a much better position to attack,” he said. “Montreal has been a great hunting ground for me in the past and I plan for it to continue. We are going to work very, very hard to make sure the car is in a place to make sure we are ahead of those Ferraris.”
Mercedes trail Ferrari in the constructors’ championship by 17 points and the team’s director of motorsport, Toto Wolff, backed his driver in confirming the team had to analyse why their car was not handling the tyres as well as Ferrari. “Our target is that this is the worst race of the season,” he said. “It is about bringing the tyres into the right window; we have a fast car but she doesn’t like the tyres and that is something we need to understand.”
Ferrari denied they had manipulated their pit strategy to ensure Vettel took the win. The team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, stated that Raikkonen’s stop had been taken as planned and the Finn had been unfortunate to lose time behind a backmarker. However, Hamilton, who had said after the race he believed it was clear the Scuderia had made Vettel their No1 driver, insisted Mercedes had not applied similar rules in their team. He did not rule it out later in the season, though.
“I don’t currently feel that we have to have a No1,” Hamilton said. “I think it’s really important now that we collectively work as a team but there might be some things along the way that position-wise, at some stage, might become valuable. We just have to make sure we are ahead of Ferrari, so we don’t have to be in that same scenario that they were in on Sunday.”
