Hamilton experienced a difficult Grand Prix weekend in Monaco, where he qualified seventh on Saturday and landed almost three quarters of a second before pole position.
The race proved to be a struggle for Hamilton as the decision to pit early to try to score the undercut not only got him past Pierre Gasly but also allowed Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez to leap forward.
It eventually left Hamilton to finish the race in seventh place after making a late second pit stop to get the fastest lap of the race and earn a bonus point.
The result was that Hamilton lost his 14-point lead in the drivers’ standings and slipped four behind Verstappen in the updated standings.
Hamilton felt that the strength of Verstappen and Red Bull’s car meant that Mercedes couldn’t afford to fight as much on other tracks as they did in Monaco.
“It’s going to be difficult,” said Hamilton.
“I told you at the beginning that they have a car that is going to win the championship and they will be very hard to beat.
“I’ve been serious all year round. We won races that we shouldn’t have won, like in Bahrain. But it’s not over yet. There is still a long, long way to go.
“We definitely can’t afford another weekend like this, but I’m grateful that I’m done and grateful that I’m done and scored some points, the fastest lap.
“Every little point you can get on such a bad weekend can hopefully count for something in the end.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
After Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas retired due to a bike problem at his pit stop, Mercedes also lost the lead in the constructors’ championship and slipped one point behind Red Bull.
But Hamilton expressed his confidence in the Mercedes team to learn from the difficulties in Monaco and jump back stronger.
“Of course it’s not a great weekend, but I don’t feel like I’m thinking about it,” said Hamilton.
“There is a lot that we could have done better in terms of preparation for the weekend. We had good discussions all weekend. But it’s not good enough for all of us.
“We win and lose as a team, and overall it’s not a good job from all of us. And we don’t take it lightly.
Also read:
“But there is no point in getting depressed. We need to look at the data and find out why we are in this position.
“I’ll be on the phone in the next few days as soon as we get an analysis. Of course we want all the answers in the team.
“I know that everyone will work flat out to make sure that this kind of weekend hopefully doesn’t happen again.”
The post Mercedes can’t afford another F1 weekend like the Monaco GP first appeared on monter-une-startup.
