Lewis Hamilton gives bemused response to Mercedes struggles at Bahrain GP

02 March 2024 , 21:50

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Lewis Hamilton struggled at the Bahrain Grand Prix (Image: Sky Sports)

Lewis Hamilton was left struggling to find any positives after Mercedes endured a disappointing start to the new Formula 1 season.

Hamilton, who is set to join Ferrari next year, finished eighth at the Bahrain Grand Prix while his teammate George Russell finished fifth. Defending champion Max Verstappen won the race in dominant fashion, while his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finished second.

"I personally feel great, physically I feel great so winter training has worked," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after the race. "We probably feel a bit of disappointment within the team, I'm not sure about everyone else.

"I was definitely hoping that we would be better this weekend then we were, but it was a tough race, it was very close with everybody and degradation is high with the car. There is plenty of areas we can improve.

"We were further back from the Red Bulls then we thought as well." And when asked if there were any positives he could take into the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix next week, Hamilton took a long time to consider his response before giving a wry smile.

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"I mean, the car's reliable," he said. "It was a struggle in the car today. The platform, where I was given everything, but there wasn't a lot of performance there compared to some of the others.

"I think if I would have qualified better, I would be a good couple of places ahead because the last stint was good. It was about discovery today, I found out a lot of things about the car to improve and I'm sure the team will."

Both W15s were hit with battery problems during the race, with Hamilton explaining: "For a while my battery was dead, so down the straights I was just de-rating the whole way down the straights, so I lost a lot of ground to the McLarens.

"I was fixing that out and that took a good 10 laps and I lost 15 seconds through that. And then after that I was just trying to get back on it and catch up once we got that fixed and then there was a bit of overheating with the brakes and in general the performance was so-so.

"My seat started moving. It clicked and my left side dropped so then it was moving through the braking zones, not great."

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Matthew Cooper