Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes can take “positives” from Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Formula One Grand Prix after he and teammate George Russell finished fifth and fourth respectively.
For a few hours Russell, in fact, was promoted to third after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was given a 10-second post-race penalty for an infringement during a pit-stop when he served a five-second penalty for making a false start. .
Russell described the decision as “harsh”, a view that the FIA agreed with when Aston Martin appealed. Alonso returned to the podium for the 100th time in his career.
Cheers to the weekend
However, the change did not detract from an exciting weekend for Mercedes, although, like everyone else, they struggled to keep pace with Red Bulls Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen who finished third in a row 1-2.
“We scored some good points as a team today,” Hamilton said after the race. “George got third, which was amazing. I went ahead, one foot in front of the other!
“I am very grateful for coming from seventh place.
“The strategy didn’t work for me. The set-up was a bit off. If I had George’s set-up, I would have been better. There is a lot to do, but we can take the positives.
Mercedes still finished a long way behind the commanding Red Bulls as Perez claimed his fifth career win ahead of double defending champion Max Verstappen, who entered the field from 15th on the grid.
Mercedes never enjoyed the same dominance, winning eight consecutive constructors’ titles.
“You have to give credit for what Red Bull has done,” Russell said. “The gap is bigger than anything since Mercedes in 2014. It’s a serious gap and everyone needs to work hard.”
Car development
Mercedes, which is struggling in 2022 and took fifth and seventh in the opening race of the season in Bahrain, has changed direction with the development of the car.
“We’ve made the right decisions over the winter and now we can get back up to speed,” Russell said. “We want to win the race and fight for the championship.
“However, we have to be realistic. We will focus on ourselves and get the basics right.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who admitted during the week that Hamilton could leave the team if he failed to improve his car, agreed.
“I think we are seeing some performance gains compared to Bahrain, which is encouraging,” he said.
“But it will be a long time before we can even think about challenging the Red Bulls.”