“My engineers have not yet been able to give me any information on why we were struggling”.
Advertisement
Commenting on his winning prospects in Japan, Hamilton said that he didn’t have any confidence to suggest that Mercedes’ sudden loss of form wouldn’t be repeated at Suzuka, the Guardian reported.
“He said “In principle, I would be interested” but there was nothing else”.
“I wonder if it was just that our auto didn’t get slower but that maybe others upgraded their cars”. “I’ve never seen it. I don’t think so”.
After the first safety vehicle , he had a more conservative approach to look after his tyres early on, but when he decided it was time to push he swiftly pulled well clear. If Ferrari are quicker there too, then the fight is really on. This is how you explain these gaps, and we’ll have to prove that in Suzuka. “I’m just hoping things go back to normal and the tyres work again”.
“They will continue to develop the vehicle , but we shouldn’t fall into depression because you have to remember Spa where they had a very hard weekend and their auto wasn’t good enough for a podium”.
So interestingly at Singapore, Ferrari introduced a pretty radical floor concept that would have been aimed at ensuring the diffuser was performing to its maximum. Hamilton suffered his first retirement of the season while his teammate Nico Rosberg finished fourth at the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix.
– Vettel’s pole position in Singapore ended a run of 23 consecutive qualifying wins for Mercedes.
But the Briton, victor of seven races this season and still firmly on course for a third title, can consider himself fortunate.
“I did not lose a huge amount of points to the guy that is right behind me in the championship so it could have been a lot worse”.
“It’s a typical drivers’ track, I think a lot of drivers like it”, said the 28-year-old.
The Suzuka weekend will be a tough homecoming for Honda, whose return as engine partners to McLaren has been painfully uncompetitive, even if Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso can count on plenty of local support.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, amid rumours Mercedes could help Lotus transition to Renault next year by collaborating with the French carmaker in the hybrid area, Lauda said he “does not exclude” that eventuality.
