A clearly disappointed Lewis Hamilton claimed he spent Sunday’s Chinese GP in “no-mans land” as he struggled for pace in his Mercedes.
Downbeat after only qualifying fourth for the second straight race, the world champion would become stuck behind Kimi Raikkonen in the first stint before facing the wrath of two flying Red Bulls after they had decided to pit under a Safety Car.
Generally, though, the Briton didn’t appear focused complaining about strategy even before the race had begun and then voicing frustration to his team at not following Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo into the pits.
“I was in no-one man’s land today, I had no pace,” Hamilton told Sky Sports afterwards. “I was just trying to hold on for whatever I had.”
The speed of Ferrari has clearly created some concern within the Brackley-based outfit, particularly after they dominated qualifying on a circuit which the team had scored pole on every year since 2012.
“Obviously, we’ve got a tough battle ahead of us, particularly on my side. I’ll say my side, but also us as a team,” the 33-year-old claimed.
“We’ve been underperforming since… yesterday and today have been a disaster on my side. I’ve got to try and rectify that and get myself back into normal performance mode otherwise more valuable points will be lost.”
Despite his negativity, Hamilton did actually close back to within 11 points of championship leader Sebastian Vettel, after his collision with Verstappen demoted the Ferrari driver to an eventual eighth place finish.
“I’m thankful for a couple of incidents that happened ahead today, kept us kind of in the battle,” he added.
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Another man who noticed the demeanour of his driver was Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff, who just considered it an off weekend for his lead man.
“He’s the best driver in my opinion, but also the best ones have days when it’s just not 100%,” he said.
“And if underneath you have a car that’s not performing as expected, and tyres that are not doing what you think they should do, and then the strategy goes against you…
“Actually we discussed that scenario this morning. Then everything just… goes in the wrong direction.”