Lewis Hamilton says he knows where to “search for now” as the seven-time world champion feels he made a breakthrough with the understanding of his Ferrari in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Despite a surprising win in the Chinese GP sprint, Hamilton’s first season with Ferrari had not been going as smoothly as the British driver hoped, as he believed his car was underperforming compared to team-mate Charles Leclerc‘s.
The Scuderia was the team with the most upgrades in Bahrain, with the introduction of a new floor the highlight as it seeks more performance to get closer to the front-running squads.
Hamilton qualified a disappointing ninth on Saturday, six places behind Leclerc, but overnight changes that moved his set-up closer to the Monegasque lifted both his fortunes and his spirits on Sunday.
Although the pace appeared not to change significantly over the Sakhir weekend, Hamilton thinks it helped him in making progress to better adapt to the car’s demands to at least match Leclerc’s pace.
The Briton finished fifth in the race, a place behind Leclerc, as he felt the car changes had made a “night and day” difference that he believes can now build on in future races.
Hamilton felt like one with the car during the middle stint in Bahrain
Grand Prix Photo
“It’s not easy out there, everyone’s so close and the car is sometimes quite hard to drive so and I’m really working hard to adapt my driving style, that’s what I really want to do,” Hamilton said after the race.
“Also get the set-up where I need to. We’ve got a much better set-up where I moved to where Charles was. I think just getting confidence in that and then adjusting the driver’s style to it.”
He added: “I learned a lot today. That middle stint I really was in line with the car and in that moment I had the pace and I was moving forwards. I needed that in the beginning and I needed it in qualifying, so I know what to search for now.”
Ferrari’s race, and particularly Leclerc’s, was somewhat hurt by the timing of the safety car in Bahrain, as it narrowed its tyre strategy options and cost him a potential shot at a podium finish.
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By
Chris Medland
For Leclerc, however, that wasn’t much consolation, as he felt Ferrari was simply not competitive enough. Ferrari is yet to finish a Sunday race on the podium after the first four races of the season.
“I felt that this was the best we could do today and it’s disappointing because when you have so much fight towards the end and you’re fighting for the first podium of the season, the pace is just not here, not good enough to achieve that,” Leclerc said.
“I really hope that soon we’ll have the car in order to to get back on it.”
