Lewis Hamilton has firmly excluded any possibility of winning the Brazilian Grand Prix, following a challenging performance in Saturday’s sprint race. He openly acknowledged that he might have made a mistake with his car’s setup.
The seven-time world champion initially surged as high as fourth at the start of the race. However, his Mercedes car experienced rapid tire degradation, causing him to slip to seventh at the finish line, with Yuki Tsunoda in the AlphaTauri passing him.
Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, also faced tire wear issues, dropping from second to fourth after the opening lap and falling more than 10 seconds behind Sergio Perez in third.
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This unexpected loss of race pace has taken the Silver Arrows by surprise, as they typically excel in longer runs compared to their rivals. Hamilton has consequently declared the Sunday Grand Prix a lost cause for his chances of victor
Hamilton: It was not enjoyable whatsoever
“Yeah, it was horrible. It was not enjoyable whatsoever,” Hamilton said to Sky Sports. “Had a good start and then after that, I just struggled with the balance, a lot of oversteer and then snap oversteer.
“I was just fighting the car from very early on and then I had no tyres in the end. I don’t really know how I’m going to fix that for tomorrow.
“It’s going to be a long afternoon tomorrow, that’s for sure. I can only assume I’ve got the setup wrong.
“It is what it is. I’ll fight as hard as I can tomorrow but we won’t be winning that’s for sure.”
