Lewis Hamilton was overheard calling for changes to be made to the Yas Marina layout after failing to get close enough to challenge Valtteri Bottas for the win in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Briton appeared the faster of the two Mercedes drivers, particularly on the SuperSoft tyres during Sunday’s race, but, after making up ground in the first and second sectors regularly, an inability to maintain it through the technical final sector meant he was always still a few car lengths back even with DRS down the two back straights to make a move.
His troubles were eerily similar to those Fernando Alonso had against Vitaly Petrov in 2010, which was one of the reasons why the rear wing flap was introduced, and even though the cars can be blamed for the problem, Hamilton thinks alterations to the now eight-year-old design are needed.
“[It’s] impossible to pass here, man,” he said to fellow podium sitters Sebastian Vettel and Bottas in the green room before the podium. “I was like, ‘Where are all the friggin’ backmarkers?’ I think they’ve got to change this track.”
While not so vocal publicly, Hamilton would bring up the problem after congratulating his teammate on his third win of the season.
“I gave it everything, but Valtteri did a fantastic job,” he stated. We still got a one-two, it’s a great job from the team. I had great pace throughout the race, particularly at the end.
“I was as close as I could get but to get ahead you need to have 1.4 seconds advantage on the car in front. We’ve got the same car, and in my own abilities, I don’t have 1.4 seconds. So I got as close as I could, but it was great to push Valtteri right to the end.”
The world champion was also pleased by the pace advantage Mercedes showed, finishing almost 20 seconds clear of Vettel in third.for Ferrari in what was arguably one of their most dominant weekends of the year.
“A good way to end the season,” Lewis acknowledged. “We’ve still got the speed, particularly in the race today I had great speed, so I’m excited about that next year.”
