Lewis Hamilton still uncomfortable in MP4-26, says Red Bull always one step ahead – Formula 1 news
The 26-year-old British driver, Lewis Hamilton, has shown concern over the pace of McLaren’s 2011 car, MP4-26.
Despite new upgrades, Hamilton commented that the balance of the car is not good and pace is also compromised. The Brit stated clearly that Red Bull are always one step ahead of the McLaren team in every development process.
Hamilton took out the same package in the Free Practice session 1, which was used in Sepang, and was over two seconds slower than Sebastian Vettel’s RB7. Vettel’s car was boosted up by the Kinetic Energy Recovery System which gave him a clear advantage over
Hamilton. The McLaren team opted to run some tests in the morning session and gathered some data for the upgrades.
In FP2, Hamilton took the upgraded car out to test it and finished second on the table. The McLaren upgrades included new front wing, floor modification and exhaust modification. Hamilton closed down the gap to Vettel to just 0.166 seconds, but still seemed
unhappy about the car.
“I was able to get a reasonable lap time but I wasn't comfortable in the car. It's not the end of the world as the car is still good. We're not in a bad position,” commented the Brit. Hamilton added that the upgraded car was not well balanced.
He added that the Red Bull team are always one step ahead of the McLaren team. “My feeling is that the Red Bulls are very, very quick this weekend. There is quite a bit of downforce (needed) on this circuit and they've shown time and time again that they
generally have a little bit more than us,” commented Hamilton.
Red Bull finally opted to use the KERS system in their car for the Shanghai race which will be very helpful for the Milton Keynes-based team as the long straights will help Vettel to increase the gap from the McLaren team.
The FP3 will take place on Saturday before the Qualifiers and once again Vettel’s performance is giving the indication of a pole-to-win race in China.
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