Lewis Hamilton has revealed the full extent of his struggles during the Spanish Grand Prix. Admitting that both he and team-mate Charles Leclerc had severe issues with their cars, the seven-time champion admitted he’d “never experienced something this bad for such a prolonged time through a race.”
Speaking ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton dived deeper into the technical issues that plagued his Ferrari machine that left him finishing his Barcelona campaign in sixth after starting fifth.
“Massively, massively,” he said on being asked how much these issues affected his performance. “Unfortunately, the team don’t want us to really talk too much about it, but we both had issues that were hindering us massively from halfway through the race.
“I said on the radio it was the worst feeling I’ve ever had, and it truly was. At the end of the race, I was kind of like, jeez – I’ve never experienced something this bad for such a prolonged time through a race.”
His lack of performance saw him overtaken by his Monegasque colleague, as per Ferrari’s orders, but when Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg swept past him, his pace deficit was clear. But what looked to be a lack of performance from the driver was in fact masking a more serious issue with the car that was identified after the race. Being told there was an issue with the car came as a “relief” to the driver, who was visibly beside himself during the post-race interviews.
“It wasn’t until after the TV interviews that I got back to the engineers and we found out there was an issue,” Hamilton said. “It was a bit of a relief to hear that because I definitely didn’t feel so terrible afterwards.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images via Getty Images
Team principal Fred Vasseur was keen to put questions of his drivers’ performance to rest following the difficult race in Spain when he told the media of the issue.
“You are experienced enough to draw a conclusion after the first words of the driver,” he told the media. “If you want to create a polemic, you can. But it’s not the case. I think [Hamilton] did 70 per cent of the race in front of Russell. I’m not sure that Russell said that the race was a disaster.
“But then we had an issue on the car the last stint, before the Safety Car. The result is not good, but he did 45 laps in front of Russell.”
Hamilton started the race with hopes of a podium, but this optimism quickly deflated as he became increasingly frustrated with the car. Ferrari remains tight-lipped about the specifics of the problems, but the pressure is on this weekend.
Sky Sports’ David Croft argues the Canadian Grand Prix is “critical” for the driver.
“I think the next race is quite critical for Lewis because Canada is a place he goes so well at. It’s a place he loves. He got his first pole and first win there,” he explained.
“This is Lewis Hamilton’s track. If he has another down day, like you did in Barcelona, then there are issues.
“If anyone can do it and turn it around, the seven-time world champion that is Lewis Hamilton can definitely turn that around.”
