Lewis Hamilton not yet adjusted to Mercedes set up – Formula 1 news
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has claimed that the brakes of his car were not perfect, which cost him a chance to challenge team-mate Nico Rosberg in the Monaco GP.
The Briton added that he was used to working with a different set up at McLaren, so he will take some time to adjust this year.
He said, “At McLaren, I had 100 per cent confidence in the car, and I’m working to regain that confidence. The setup and the brakes are very different to what I was used to.”
He went onto say, “It’s an overall feeling that’s hard to explain. It’s not a problem of concentration, it’s just confidence in the car.”
Hamilton’s move to Mercedes was criticised last year, but he proved everyone wrong with some solid performances at the start of the 2013 Formula 1 season. He finished on the podium on a couple of times and outpaced his team-mate in the qualifiers too.
However, things have changed over the past few races, as Rosberg has lifted his game. The German driver has been on pole for the past three rounds and managed to bring up Mercedes’ first victory of the season in Monaco.
Although Hamilton was also in a very god position to challenge a win, he ended up in fourth place overall after losing a couple of places to Red Bull’s drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
The 2008 world champion was looking good for a second place finish at one stage of the race, but dropped positions because of a pit stop error. The timing of his stop was not a good one, which allowed his opponents to gain track position in the end.
At the moment, Hamilton is fourth in the championship and does not seem to be a major threat to his rivals such as Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. However, he will be hoping to improve his performance and continue scoring points with consistency
in order to finish amongst the top five in the end.
On the other hand, Rosberg will be looking to beat his partner too, as he has been in terrific form recently. His victory in Monaco would have boosted his confidence, thus he will be looking forward to the upcoming race in Canada.
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