Hamilton: This is the best car of the last year and a half

In Barcelona, ​​Lewis Hamilton finished second and thanked the team for the great work…

Q: Lewis, this is your 11th podium in Barcelona, ​​how happy are you with it?
Lewis Hamilton: The fans were great support for us, I shared the podium with a teammate – this is a special event for our team given the length we went through to close the gap to the leaders. Excellent day!

Q: Now everyone is talking about new products. How did the car behave during the race?
Lewis Hamilton: Awesome! On Friday it was not possible to achieve the desired balance, the car was difficult to drive, but at night we did a great job. We have a great team, on Friday night Mick Schumacher got behind the wheel of the simulator and helped us on the right track on Saturday. We evaluated different levels of downforce and in the race the car behaved perfectly.

Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to follow Max’s pace, but it’s nice that George finished third after starting from twelfth. This is a great result for our team.

Q: But last year you were quick here too. Is it too early to draw conclusions?
Lewis Hamilton: Usually they say if you are fast in Barcelona, ​​the car will be fast everywhere, so I think we will be strong in the next races. Probably Aston Martin will get a slight advantage somewhere or Ferrari, but race pace remains our strong point, just like last year.

This weekend we were able to better understand the modified car. I think we can count on being strong going forward. We have to try to increase efficiency a little more to close the gap with the leaders.

Q: Tell us about the incident with Lando at the start of the race?
Lewis Hamilton: I just felt a hard blow from behind. Max and Carlos went wide in the first corner, I had to slow down to avoid crashing into them, and that’s when a blow came from behind.

I think Lando regrets what happened because he did a great job on Saturday. It was great to see McLaren on the second row of the grid. But if he had beaten me at the start, I would have bounced back later, because we were faster in the race.

So yes, in the end the result is not very good for him, but if he had been a little more patient, he would have achieved more. We all live and learn.

Q: Lewis, you said you can’t match Max’s time. Is there a Grand Prix where you can match him this season – or do you have to wait for the next one?
Lewis Hamilton: I think with today’s car we can’t compare with them, but we are working. At the moment we are limited by the speed we have, but there is hard work ahead, many discoveries and improvements that I hope will appear. They will also improve as the season progresses, which means we have to go faster.

In Barcelona we were a few tenths to half a second inferior on the circle during the race, and even more so in qualifying. But there is confidence that we are moving in the right direction and I know we have some solutions for the future. Hopefully we can challenge them by the end of the year.

Right now I’m more focused on making sure next year we have a car that can fight them from day one. And the more we get out of the car this year, the more it will affect the car next season. And the more we learn about this car, the more actively we move in the right direction.

It is important to find the optimal balance between the two projects. With the leaders well ahead, Max will continue to win this year, meaning they can start developing the car ahead of everyone else next year, if they haven’t already – and this is the danger. So we have to keep working hard, but at the same time think about the future.

Q: Can you say this car is the best of the last year and a half?
Lewis Hamilton: Yes, for me this is definitely the best car of the last year and a half. This is the result of the work of great specialists at our base, they keep working and moving the car forward.