Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes will have a stronger race pace during the Mexican Grand Prix, after a rare Qualifying session when the Briton couldn’t really contend for pole.
Though in the mix throughout, when eventual polesitter Sebastian Vettel and second-placed Max Verstappen upped their pace in Q3, Hamilton couldn’t keep up, finishing almost half a second back in third.
A mistake entering the stadium section on his final flying lap certainly didn’t help but at a venue which negates their power advantage, the 32-year-old conceded he just wasn’t quick enough.
“Some of the issues we’ve got with the car are highlighted here. It is a little bit like Singapore,” he claimed. “The gap is only a couple of tenths as I was a couple of tenths up on my last lap but didn’t finish it off. Still, that is a significant gap and they just did a better job.”
Hamilton admitted his own performance wasn’t flawless, however, adding: “Out of all the qualifying sessions I’ve had this year it wasn’t at the top. It was so close through practice and I think it was the first time it has been this close between five for six of us which is exciting and puts us all under pressure.”
Looking ahead to the race, though sure he will have a more competitive package, the Mercedes driver thinks opportunities will be limited to try and make progress.
“As I said our race pace is good so I’m not worried about that but you can’t overtake here, you need a big delta to overtake something like over one second or 1.3 seconds, so positioning is important,” he explained. “It is a long way down to Turn 1, so we should have some fun [at the start of the race] tomorrow.
“It is a one-stop strategy so it is a case of how you look after your tyres,” Lewis continued. “There isn’t much degradation so far so in the race it is going to be very tough so I hope that means I can keep close even if I’m not where I want to be at Turn 1.”
Ultimately, for Hamilton, there is only one goal in mind and that is to secure the top five he needs to become the champion, with Mexico City as good a place as any for the series leader.
“Winning here would be, seeing the crowd today, it is such a spectacle here with the camera from above, and it looks incredible,” he commented. “There is a lot of energy in the crowd so to win it on Mexican soil would be pretty neat.”
