Ferrari, which recently hired a Formula 1 driver who will be 40 years old when he arrives, has just witnessed its 18-year-old protege deliver an impressive last-minute performance in Carlos Sainz’s car, the same seat Lewis Hamilton will occupy next year.
The timing of Ollie Bearman’s performance coinciding with a challenging qualifying session for Hamilton at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is just one of those awkward coincidences that happen in motorsport from time to time.
Hamilton managed to reach Q3, securing the 10th fastest time in Q2, while Bearman, who was 11th fastest in Q2, did not. However, the difference between their times was only 0.036 seconds. If Bearman had not gone slightly wide at turn 22 on his first lap, forcing him to try another lap on worn tires, their positions would have been reversed.
It is clear that the Mercedes car is not performing as well as the Ferrari on the fast Jeddah circuit. Despite this, Hamilton is facing particular difficulties, as highlighted by his 0.16-second gap to his teammate George Russell, who has been consistently faster in the Mercedes throughout the weekend.
In fact, the qualifying gap between Hamilton and Russell is somewhat misleading. Russell was unable to complete his lap on new tires in Q3 due to a mistake, but even on old tires, he was 0.16 seconds faster than Hamilton on new tires. Teams and Pirelli estimated that the difference in lap times due to tire choice was around 0.2 seconds.
This difference of a quarter of a second between Hamilton and Russell is the closest they have been all weekend. In FP2, the difference was even greater. This reflects a similar situation to last year, when Hamilton qualified 0.4 seconds slower. Although Hamilton has been fast at this circuit in the past, it was in 2021 when he had a competitive Mercedes car. The current Mercedes, with its lack of rear stability under these regulations, does not inspire confidence in Hamilton when facing the super-fast sections of the track.
Hamilton has expressed his concerns about the car’s bounce, which has been difficult to resolve despite several setup changes. He tried a rear wing with more downforce, but even with this configuration, he still lags behind Russell by about 0.3 seconds. Setup changes for qualifying included reverting to the original rear wing with less downforce, but the bounce issue persisted.
In turns 6/7/8, Hamilton loses significant time compared to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. While Verstappen and Leclerc can take these turns with the throttle fully open, Hamilton is limited to 62% throttle, resulting in a lower speed of 155mph compared to the Red Bull and Ferrari’s 166mph.
However, Hamilton’s time loss to Russell is not mainly in these super-fast turns, but rather in the braking zones leading to the tighter turns. In turns 1, 2, 13, 15, and 22, Hamilton brakes earlier than Russell, but manages to carry more speed on the exits. However, Russell gains more time in the braking zones than Hamilton gains on the exits, resulting in a 0.16-second advantage for Russell. It is worth noting that Russell achieved this time difference on used tires, while Hamilton was on new tires.
It is clear that Hamilton is not as comfortable as Russell in pushing the car to the limit in braking zones. This lack of confidence may be due to the various setup changes Hamilton has made compared to Russell’s focused approach to maximizing the car’s potential.
After qualifying in seventh and eighth places, with Russell more than 0.8 seconds behind Verstappen’s pole position and 0.5 seconds behind Leclerc’s Ferrari, team boss Toto Wolff acknowledged the challenges his drivers are facing. He mentioned that Russell could have fought for a place on the second row but lost control of the car, while Hamilton did not get the desired feedback from the car.
Although eighth place is not ideal for Hamilton, it could have been worse if the 18-year-old rookie had outperformed him and secured a place in Q3 in the Ferrari. This would have raised even more concerns for Hamilton.
© 2024
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