Without being specific, Lewis Hamilton says that set-up issues with the W12 have handicapped Mercedes this season.

With just four races remaining and trailing Max Verstappen by 19 points, Lewis Hamilton heads into the Interlagos weekend knowing that he has to produce something special, and soon.

Emphasising the superior pace of the Red Bull, the Briton says that unspecified set-up issues with set-up on the W12 have hindered the German team this year.

Asked how the title battle compares with that of 2007, when he was up against Kimi Raikkonen and his own McLaren teammate, Fernando Alonso, the Briton said: "It's just another year.

"They are always tough," he added. "In lots of different ways, I think this year we've obviously had our wings clipped so it's been harder from an operational standpoint to maximise the car.

"Obviously the battle we had back in the day when we were younger against the Ferraris, they were very strong back then so it's all similar. I don't rate one harder than the other, they've all been hard in their own way."

Asked to explain the 'clipped wings' comment, he said: "She's just a bit harder to set up this year I guess. It's really difficult to explain, too many elements to go into in terms of details but it's just a harder car to optimise.

"Some weekends it works, some weekends it doesn't, but to land on the ground with the simulations in the right place is a little harder this year.

"But it's similar for others," he admitted. "In Austin the Red Bulls were quite far off then they switched it around. Getting the maximum potential out of the car has been harder this year."

And about that little mater of the title battle...

"I would imagine the task is as steep as it can be," he said. "I think their pace was phenomenal obviously in the last race. They've had a strong car all year. They've had the strongest car as you can tell so I think we've done as good as I think we could.

"We'll be pushing this weekend to see if we can squeeze any more out of the car," he added. "Last time here they were incredibly strong so we anticipate again they'll be very hard to beat this weekend but where there's a will there's a way."

Meanwhile, amidst media speculation that he might face an engine penalty this weekend, Mercedes remain tight-lipped insists that there are no issue as yet.

Check out our Thursday gallery from Interlagos, here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 12/11/2021 10:28

"The aero change at the rear has clearly effected the Mercedes, just wonder also how much the engine issues have made a difference, are they being compromised in that area as well to help reliability, Lewis will definately have earnt his salary if he pulls this championship off."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by B-Dub, 11/11/2021 19:17

"So by that logic all other teams, sans Mercedes, had their "wings clipped" since 2014 due to the stupidest engine formula ever foisted on race fans by the political **** Todt. Mercedes were so far ahead they had to turn down the power to insure that the FIA weren't forced to penalise them somehow for being too fast. Of course when one considers the resulting penalty for Mercedes cheating during 2012 testing Todt wouldn't have penalised them anyway. $HAM needs to quit making excuses and blaming his mediocrity on the car."

Rating: Negative (-7) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

"We've had our wings clipped, says Hamilton

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page