Mercedes Admits Hamilton After Qualifying Struggle

Mercedes’ pittance is back after Lewis Hamilton could only manage fifth on the grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The team has consistently improved on their W13 performance since the start of the season, scoring their first win of the season in Brazil last week. Mercedes in 2010

Hamilton finished fifth by almost seven-tenths of a second from pole winner Max Verstappen. George Russell shares the third row of the grid with his teammate, qualifying 3-thousandths of a second slower.

Speaking to media including RaceFans after today’s session, he said: “Running is back, so that’s not easy.

Although Mercedes had predicted Red Bull would be stronger at Yas Marina, Hamilton said he “certainly did not expect to see such a big gap”. “We’re losing six-tenths in a row. It was reminiscent of some of the previous races, like Austin.

Hamilton, meanwhile, complained about further problems with his brakes. Mercedes say they have a number of key weaknesses in their cars that they need to address before next season.

“[There’s] Brakes, steering is probably number one,” said Hamilton. “Drag is probably our biggest weakness or equal number one. There are many other things.

“Obviously we’ve got downforce, we need to make a more efficient car. I think everyone on the team knows exactly what the problems are and where we went wrong. I’m pretty sure they won’t make the next car with these features.”

He said he would be happy not to drive the W13 again after next week’s season-ending test at the circuit.

“I’m looking forward to the end of Tuesday, the last time I have to drive this thing,” he said. “I don’t plan on driving this again. It won’t be one of the cars I asked for in my contract!

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