Lewis Hamilton says he’ll be facing a challenging Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday, the Briton struggling with what he described as a “peaky” car that “just doesn’t like this track”.
Hamilton set the sixth fastest time in qualifying and was the only driver to improve on his second run, but the Briton’s best effort trailed Ferrari poleman Charles Leclerc’s flyer by 0.288s.
The seven-time world champion was happy with the changes made to his W14 after Saturday’s final practice session, although he was unable to iron out the car’s inconsistent behaviour.
“I’ve been struggling all weekend with this car,” Hamilton told Sky F1. “The car’s been a bit of a nightmare to drive, it just doesn’t like this track.”
“We made some good changes going into qualifying, I was much, much happier with the car. I wish we’d done in the morning but then Q1 and Q2 weren’t looking too bad, Q2 second lap was great.
“But the car is just really peaky. Sometimes it works, sometimes doesn’t, and I just wasn’t able to extract much more from it again.
“I think, in a perfect world, maybe I could have been fifth but that’s about it.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s round of racing at Mexico’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Hamilton admitted to being pessimistic over his chances of moving forward in this afternoon’s 71-lap race.
“It’s going to be a real challenge with that car tomorrow,” he said. “We’re overheating, brakes overheating, it’s going to be very hard for us to battle.
“I don’t know what kind of race we’re going to have but it’s going to be on a knife’s edge.”
George Russell, who qualified eighth, 0.220s behind Hamilton, echoed his teammate’s comments regarding the unpredictability of Mercedes’ contender.
“It was a bit of a shame to end up P8 because we showed signs of strong pace at points, but we didn't deliver when it counted,” Russell said.
“We lacked consistency today - some runs we were strong, others not, so it was a confusing picture. On the final run, we had one set of new tyres and tried something different on the out lap, and it didn't work and the tyres weren't in the window.
“As for tomorrow, it will be hard from P8 - the brakes will need managing and PU temperatures are always a challenge, too. We came here expecting to be competitive and I hope we can make progress in the race, but it won't be easy.”
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