Jun.9 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton has repeated his veiled suggestion that solely his Mercedes out of the blue suffers a mysterious tempo dip in qualifying.
In Monaco two weeks in the past, solely George Russell had an upgraded wing on his automotive – however for Montreal, seven time world champion Hamilton additionally has the brand new half.
Nonetheless, Hamilton mentioned it’s been a pattern all 12 months to date that “robotically I lose two tenths going into qualifying”.
“I don’t anticipate being forward of George this 12 months in qualifying,” he added in Monaco.
Certainly, even Russell admits that the Ferrari-bound-in-2025 Hamilton was “flying” in Saturday morning apply in Montreal – earlier than mysteriously slumping as soon as once more in qualifying.
“Saturdays normally go like this, so I can’t say I’m stunned,” the 39-year-old advised Viaplay in Montreal.
“We didn’t change something on the automotive however I used to be half a second slower. The grip simply wasn’t there and I don’t know the place it went. It was simply out of the blue gone.
“However congratulations to George, as a result of it’s nice for the staff,” Hamilton added.
Staff boss Toto Wolff admits that Hamilton’s sudden qualifying dip is a thriller. “At first it regarded like Hamilton had the higher hand,” he mentioned after qualifying.
“It regarded like each our vehicles have been beating everybody, however ultimately it grew to become so tight, additionally for George, after which Lewis couldn’t get laptime.
“We don’t know why it didn’t work out for him ultimately. The tyre temperatures have been in window. Lewis put in some sturdy laps immediately,” he added. “It simply one way or the other didn’t come collectively ultimately.
“That’s why the result’s a bit bittersweet.”
The excellent news for Mercedes is that, amid a current collection of upgrades, the previous world champions lastly now seem like re-joining F1’s entrance group.
“We’ve been type of zigzagging over these previous couple of years however within the final six months, these zigzags have narrowed,” mentioned Russell.
Even Pink Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko admits Mercedes is now closing in on the frontrunners.
“Sure, Mercedes have taken a step ahead,” mentioned the staff marketing consultant. “They have been 2-3kph forward of us on all sections of the observe, which reveals that they’re good aerodynamically.”
