Lewis Hamilton said he had no realistic chance to keep Max Verstappen behind him as the pair fought for victory in today’s sprint race.
The Mercedes driver took the lead at the start of the race but Verstappen closed on him before half-distance. An error by Hamilton at the hairpin brought Verstappen within DRS range and the Red Bull driver passed him in the zone approaching the hairpin.Hamilton was able to secure second place, despite Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull closing on him over the final laps. He called it “the best result I’ve had in a long time.”
“I’m super, super happy and grateful,” said Hamilton. “Of course we couldn’t fight the Red Bulls today. But this is a huge step, a huge improvement.”
He took advantage of rain in yesterday’s qualifying session to claim a place on the front row of the grid. “With the rain I think that really helped naturally.
“The race was tough and obviously if I was further back I would have struggled, perhaps, to progress. But I found out a lot about the car through this short stint of the race so I’m excited for tomorrow.”
Mercedes best result in a race this season before today was fifth place. Hamilton took heart from the result and is hopeful of a better result in qualifying for the grand prix later today.
“We’re still not as quick, I think, on a single lap, as obviously the Ferraris, the Red Bulls and I think the McLarens are ahead of us for sure,” said Hamilton. “And possibly the Astons. We’re probably very close, maybe, to the Aston’s, but we’ll see today.
“I don’t anticipate we’ll be fighting for the front row. But the fortunate thing is we can make some adjustments so hopefully I can improve the car in the next three hours and hopefully have a better qualifying session than we have had in the past.”
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Edvaldo
20th April 2024, 5:23
That car looked just like a midfield car does when it finds itself leading a race : completely uncapable of building a gap.
Alonso was defending against 4 cars and Hamilton couldnt pull away from that.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
20th April 2024, 5:27
So if Max’s battery had been flat the whole race, he wouldn’t have been able to overtake, and win the race. Thats useful to know. Merc have a better car in clean air, but they don’t have the power unit down the straight. And because RBR had their turning about the time they started fielding a better battery in 2021, probably a clear pointer to as their domination, a car built to lead a race, but able to overtake due to it’s superior power unit.
Great drive from Lewis, keeping his tires alive to stay in front of the other Red Bull, one wonders if Checo has the same battery in his car given how much more difficult it was for him to ‘overtake’.
Nikos (@exeviolthor)
20th April 2024, 5:49
No one can make a pass if their battery is flat. Perez was stuck in a DRS train whereas Max did not have to race anyone using DRS.
Also Hamilton did drive well, but when Perez passed Sainz and Alonso, Hamilton was already 5 seconds away with only three laps remaiming. Therefore, the main reason that Perez did not catch Hamilton was that he ran out of laps.
RH
20th April 2024, 10:36
Max had 1s+ advantage relative to Hamilton. The other gaps are a bit unknown as Alonso did a good job ruining their races.
I think RB has half a second over the second best team this weekend. They will fly off into the distance and Fred will do Fred things.
AlanD
20th April 2024, 20:15
I disagree. I don’t think Alonso ruined anyone’s race. He raced. What is your problem with that?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th April 2024, 22:08
He raced, except when verstappen was behind, the only one who was a realistic threat to win the race.
GmP (@gmp)
20th April 2024, 16:40
Alonso/Carlos were the duo that made Lewis end up second. Alonso could not defend against Max, just as Lewis could not (although Lewis made an error under pressure from Max.) but Carlos/Ferrari he was able to keep behind a long time. And that kept Checo away from Lewis. Lewis had a very good start, but after that did not have to pass anyone, so could concentrate on his own pace, enough to stay ahead of that fighting group.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
21st April 2024, 1:50
No he couldn’t.