19/03/2023
NEWS STORY
Qualifying 8th for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, four places down on his teammate, Lewis Hamilton says he doesn't feel connected to his car.
The Briton would have qualified higher up the grid, but his final time was deleted for exceeding the track limits in the final corner.
Despite the obvious shortcomings of the W14, the team is doing its best to put on a brave face, at least publically, but even so few were prepared at Hamilton's reaction when asked about his chances in the Grand Prix.
"I wouldn't hold my breath," he laughed, before adding, "maybe it will be OK.
"I think the car is where it is," he continued. "I mean, George did a great job, I'm pleased that he's right up there on the second row.
"The car's obviously got performance," he added. "I just don't feel connected to this car. No matter what I do, no matter what I change, I can't get confidence in it. I'm just at a bit of a loss with it."
Asked if his teammate's performance had given him any encouragement, he replied: "George did a great job. So great, great result for him and he was able to get the car in a different place than me. I just struggled to extract the performance from the car.
"It's mostly me," he added. "And yeah, a little bit in the high-speed the car is a little bit unstable, my set-up."
"At the moment I definitely feels like... I just couldn't get any more out of the car, but I keep trying."
Asked about the contrasting performances Russell and Hamilton were extracting from their cars, team boss, Toto Wolff said: "They need a car with a certain behaviour in order to drive fast and Lewis, at no time has this car given him this season any feedback that allowed him to push to the limit.
"If you haven't got that car underneath you... in sector one you are never able to push it fast through the corners. This is what we've seen. It's all sector one and George just drives around it and is able to have more confidence in the car."
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