Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP
Hamilton: "Each weekend is a rescue" right now for Mercedes F1
Lewis Hamilton feels that “each weekend is a rescue” currently for Mercedes in Formula 1 after the team suffered a double Q2 exit at Imola on Friday.
Luke Smith
Edited: Apr 23, 2022, 1:13 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Hamilton scraped through to the second stage of qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by just four-thousandths of a second, but could not make it through to top-10 shootout.
A red flag after the initial runs in Q2 gave time for incoming rain to scupper any chance of improving lap times, leaving Hamilton 13th, two places behind Mercedes teammate George Russell.
It marked the second time in four races Hamilton failed to reach Q3, having been knocked out in Q1 in Saudi Arabia, and was the first time since Japan 2012 that Mercedes didn't get a car into the final stage of qualifying.
"It wasn't a great session, naturally it's disappointing," Hamilton said.
"[You] come here with optimism and you know everyone is working really hard at the factory, and things just don't come together.
"It's disappointing. I think we underperformed as a team today. There are things that we should have done that we didn't do.
"Anyways. We'll work as hard as we can to move up in the sprint race. It's going to be a difficult race, but hopefully tomorrow is better weather-wise, and who knows, maybe we'll move our way forwards."
Hamilton and Russell will have the chance to move forward during the 21-lap sprint race tomorrow, the results of which will then set the grid for Sunday's grand prix.
Asked if the sprint meant there was still a chance to rescue something from the weekend, Hamilton replied: "We'll just keep working hard. Each weekend is a rescue."
Hamilton was seen speaking with Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff at the back of the garage after dropping out in Q2, but was reluctant to share the contents of their conversation.
"It's all internal stuff," Hamilton said. "So I'd rather not share that."
Read Also:
- F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen takes sprint pole at Imola
- Russell broke F1 floor stay due to Mercedes porpoising in Imola FP1
George Russell, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Russell explained that he struggled chiefly with tyre temperature through qualifying at Imola, with the recurring red flags not helping Mercedes to build up much of a rhythm.
"It was a bit of a shame with how the red flags panned out today," Russell said.
"But if there is a weekend to not be where we want to be, a sprint weekend is the one to do it. [It's] not ideal, but we got a chance to recover these positions tomorrow."
Russell was also uncertain the sprint race would offer much of a chance for Mercedes to move forward, noting the lack of overtaking chances there often are in the Saturday events.
"It's going to be a bit tricky going into the race tomorrow," Russell said.
"Usually in these sprint races, not so much happens. It'll be interesting with these new cars if we can follow a bit closer.
"But I don't think there's enough laps with enough degradation for us to take our advantage where we're generally stronger compared to our current rivals, which this weekend aren't the top two teams.
"So let's see what we can do. We've got Sunday as well. [We] can only go up."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Emilia Romagna GP qualifying as it happened
Next article Emilia Romagna GP: Verstappen grabs F1 sprint pole in disrupted session
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Luke Smith
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
Formula 1
Formula 1
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Formula 1
Formula 1
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
More from
Mercedes
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
Portimão
11 h
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
Latest news
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
5 h
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
5 h
Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
General
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Japanese GP
8 h
Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe