In China on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton went from being a “hero to zero.” Former Formula One driver Robert Doornbos called Mercedes’s point deficit to Red Bull “embarrassing.”
Mercedes has been searching for solutions due to correlation problems between the factory and the track, even though they began the season believing they had made progress with the brand-new W15.
In China, Lewis Hamilton went from being a “hero to zero.”The team has reportedly discovered downforce after overhauling the car over the winter, according to data from its simulation tools, but the lap speeds are not showing up.
Mercedes has not appeared on the podium this season, with the exception of Hamilton’s P2 in the Sprint race in China, where he finished second to Max Verstappen.
The team’s best finish in a Grand Prix was P5, which puts them on 42 points, 113 behind Red Bull, the leaders of the championship.
“Mercedes’ current low point total is embarrassing,” Doornbos said to Ziggo Sport.
Hamilton erred at Turn 14 and went wide in qualifying, ending Mercedes’ hopes of winning more races at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
The seven-time world champion is reportedly stuck in 18th place on the grid as a result of what is said to have cost him six tenths of a second.
Doornbos said, “Hamilton went from hero to zero.” “You qualified for the race in eighteenth place, and he finished second in the sprint race.”
Olav Mol, a fellow analyst, continued, saying, “The gap between Russell and Hamilton is just too great.” They don’t consistently score in pairs, unlike McLaren and Red Bull.
Nico Rosberg criticizes Lewis Hamilton’s “justification”
Mercedes had experimented with the setup between the Sprint and qualifying, as the British driver revealed while blaming set-up alterations for his qualifying problems.
“We’re still trying to experiment with the car this afternoon,” he remarked. “To check if we can find anything, I walked a long way in one direction and he went the other.
That is what we currently must accomplish. Yes, that didn’t work, though.
“It wasn’t too bad in some places, but in fourteen, I struggled and couldn’t get it to stop,” he continued. So that’s how things are.
Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s old teammate, claims that’s merely a “excuse” and that Hamilton made a mistake.
“This year, for me, that’s an excuse,” he said to Sky Sports. “He’s doing fantastically; when George braked too late, he was only a tenth slower than him at that point.
“He’s going through a challenging time right now.”
