Lewis Hamilton clearly qualified better in Melbourne than in Jeddah, and he was happy with the progress made, but both Mercedes drivers note that the car still suffers from longitudinal build-up at high speeds.
Lewis Hamilton (5th): “Today’s qualifying was more successful than in the previous stage and went better than yesterday’s practice. It’s nice to be in the top five again.
Yesterday we were quite behind, so in the evening we had to work hard, plus the help of specialists based on the team, who also worked hard to find the best approach to the settings.
I think today we managed to squeeze almost everything out of the car that it was capable of. Still, I felt like the circle could have been run a little better, and of course I’m bummed that I didn’t get to fully utilize its potential. But she has speed, which is good.
The problem is that when you try to squeeze a little more out of the W13, she doesn’t like it, she can sting you like a snake. Working with the settings, we are forced to look for the maximum allowable level of longitudinal swing of the car, at which the head does not fall off yet.
My partner and I have set up cars in different ways, we have tried different approaches and we hope this will allow the team to gather more information that will be helpful in preparing for tomorrow’s race. Hopefully we can add more.”
George Russell (6th): “Qualifying was hectic, difficult to fly. We’ve approached the settings quite aggressively as the machine is subject to constant pitching, but finding the right compromise isn’t easy. The problem must in any case be solved, because cars from McLaren and Red Bull, for example, do not suffer from fouling.
The fourth DRS zone was dropped, we were told this was done for safety reasons, but driving with an open wing makes the car less affected by the roll. It turns out that the removal of this DRS zone has only made the problem worse, and I don’t like it.
In my opinion, no one has yet fully understood the new cars or the 18-inch tires, because some teams, even on the softest compound tires, managed to complete four or five fast laps, while others – just one. In general, I foresee that there will be difficulties tomorrow.
Source: F1 News
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