It is no longer that Red Bull and Mercedes are equal. No, Hamilton really is the underdog now. That says, er, Lewis Hamilton. According to him, Red Bull has again overrun Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton doesn't seem quite comfortable with it. The record champion has not had the easiest start this year and there is a new title challenger in the form of Max Verstappen.
The last two races (Monaco and Azerbaijan) have been two strange races on street circuits. Those two jobs are not representative for the rest of the season. The epically boring Paul Ricard, on the other hand, is a harbinger of the circuits we can visit.
Red Bull overrunning Mercedes again
The expectation was that Mercedes would strike back again. Just like they did in Barcelona. In the first free practice there was no problem, but in VT2 and VT3 it was Verstappen who had clearly made the biggest steps. He was able to continue that form. The Dutchman had a top qualification in France and will start from pole today.
It's great that we are second and third. This puts us right in between the two Red Bulls and we can put pressure on them during the race. But it's close again. They are again slightly ahead of Mercedes against Barcelona. I wasn't quite sure what to expect this weekend. I had hoped that we would come out much stronger anyway. We are also better than the previous races, top 5 or top 4 all weekend. But it doesn't feel very good.
Lewis Hamilton, is also for Max Verstappen.
Straights
Basically, Hamilton is not very happy. Obviously the Mercedes and Red Bulls are considerably faster than the rest of the field. However, those two mainly look at each other:
We know that Red Bull looks strong everywhere. Street circuits, no matter where they are, they are very strong. And we have some weaknesses that we need to keep working on to improve. I heard we lose the most on the straight. So we should try to figure out why.
Lewis Hamilton, doesn't have the fastest car anymore?
Whether it is a sneer at the moving rear wing? Probably not. The requirements have since been amended. In the test, the wing may flex less while the forces are greater than with the previous measurement method. In addition, the front wings of Mercedes are also flexing considerably at the moment.
It is not the first time that Hamilton had a mediocre start to the season. In 2019 Sebastian Vettel was the leader in the World Cup standings for a while and in 2016 Nico Rosberg was in top form.
Via: Autosport