Lewis Hamilton was ‘shocked’ by one thing Ferrari told the Briton in FP3 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this Saturday, and Martin Brundle was not surprised by his shock.
The 40-year-old endured yet another disappointing session since joining the Scuderia ahead of qualifying in Jeddah this weekend. Hamilton could only finish the third practice session at the Saudi Arabian GP down in a bleak P12, whilst Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc came P5.
Hamilton was 1.291 seconds off the table-topping pace that McLaren racer Lando Norris set around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Leclerc was 0.883s off Norris in a close fight for P3 with Mercedes ace George Russell (0.627s shy) and Red Bull racer Max Verstappen (0.845s shy).
Ferrari ‘shocked’ Lewis Hamilton with his pace deficits in FP3 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Hamilton has been off Leclerc’s speed at the Saudi Arabian GP all weekend after taking P8 in FP1 and P13 in FP2 with 0.506s and 0.622s gaps to the Monegasque in P3 and P4. He goes into qualifying with a big deficit as Hamilton tries to be Ferrari’s lead driver for the first time.
Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami also surprised Hamilton as he told the 105-time Grand Prix winner how much time he was losing per sector in FP3 at the Saudi Arabian GP. The 40-year-old has struggled for pace all year, with his average Grand Prix qualifying position P7.5.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
Hamilton asked his race engineer, ‘How far am I down on the sectors?’ during FP3. To which, Adami replied: “Seven-tenths first sector, four-tenths second sector and we aborted the last sector.” Adami’s astonishing information stunned Hamilton, who simply responded: “Jeez…”
Seven-time F1 drivers’ champion Hamilton losing seven-tenths of a second in just one sector at the Saudi Arabian GP also surprised Brundle. He feels the Briton’s pace struggles are also due to Hamilton struggling to maximise Ferrari’s car plus going the wrong way for his set-up.
Brundle said on Sky Sports F1 (19/04, 16:04): “There’s been entire Grand Prix events where he wouldn’t have lost seven-tenths to anybody, let alone in one sector. No wonder he was shocked by it. I think he’s going the wrong way with the set-up of the car for him.
“He’s clearly got to find his way with the car and his engineer. But Lewis is not seven-tenths off in the first sector of this track and the car’s just not with him. He’s just not comfortable in it. It’s not working and it’s almost uncomfortable viewing and listening.”
Lewis Hamilton faces another recovery weekend as his pace struggles continue in Jeddah
Hamilton being not only miles off Leclerc’s pace in practice for the Saudi Arabian GP but also the overall best times in every session so far will shock the 104-time Grand Prix pole-sitter. It is far from what he will have dreamt of when Hamilton arrived in Maranello from Mercedes.
It will even worry the Scuderia that the Briton is so far off the pace when Ferrari predicted a 30% increase in performance in Saudi Arabia compared to their efforts in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Sakhir was not a happy hunting ground for Hamilton in qualifying as he only earned P9.
Hamilton was able to recover his weekend in the Bahrain GP somewhat with a P5 finish last time out. But he will not have wanted another potential recovery drive this weekend at the Saudi Arabian GP, which could be the case if Hamilton cannot find more speed in qualifying.
Leave feedback about this