Lewis Hamilton admits he made a costly ‘mistake’ in the Mexico City Grand Prix. But even without it, the Briton fears for Mercedes as the signs were not good regardless.
The 39-year-old is now nearing the end of his time at the Silver Arrows as the 2024 season comes to its conclusion. But as Hamilton prepares to join Ferrari next year, the Briton would hope to bow out with better form after more than a decade of regular success at Mercedes.
Hamilton has now not stood on a podium in six rounds since winning the Belgian Grand Prix before the summer break. He got the Stevenage-born star’s best result since Spa on Sunday as Hamilton overtook teammate George Russell to claim fourth place in the Mexico City GP.
Lewis Hamilton fears Mercedes’ pace problems were worse than his ‘mistake’ in Mexico
Ferrari pitting Charles Leclerc to set the fastest lap of the Mexico City GP on the final lap put Hamilton just 10 seconds behind the podium places, with Russell a further four seconds shy. Mercedes had a race of their own, with Max Verstappen 11 seconds back after his penalties.
Hamilton even admits P4 and P5 also exceeded what Mercedes expected would be on offer in the Mexico City GP. Verstappen’s illegal moves on Lando Norris that drew two 10-second penalties, plus Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez qualifying P17 and P18, helped Mercedes out.
Even without Hamilton making a ‘mistake’ by asking for insufficient downforce levels on his front wing for the start of the Mexico City GP, the Briton believes Mercedes would not have earned a better result as the W15 simply lacks the speed to fight with Ferrari and McLaren.
He said, via Speedweek: “In general, I had a good start. But then I had severe understeer. That was my mistake because I drove with too little front wing and that then affected the front tyres in the first stint. After the stop, where we made changes, it was much better.
“But even if we had had this pace in the first stint, we still wouldn’t have had the speed to challenge the drivers ahead of us in the fight for the podium. Fourth and fifth places are a bit better than we expected, so we can be happy with the race.”
Williams set a faster race lap than Mercedes in the Mexico City Grand Prix
Hamilton now only has four rounds left with Mercedes, starting at this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, before switching to Ferrari in 2025. The Briton, who even has honorary Brazilian citizenship, will hope the Silver Arrows can find more pace in their W15 to go out on a high.
Before the summer break, it appeared that Mercedes were heading in the right direction to challenge for regular wins. Russell capitalised on Verstappen crashing with Norris to win the Austrian Grand Prix before Hamilton won his record ninth British Grand Prix plus in Belgium.
Yet the Silver Arrows have struggled since, with Russell also not finishing higher than fourth in the past eight rounds – including being disqualified at Spa after winning – except for one third place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz collided late on.
Their pace struggles truly came home to roost in the Mexico City GP, as well, as Leclerc was able to pit to set the fastest lap having held a full pit stop on the Mercedes drivers. Hamilton and Russell set the eighth and 11th-fastest laps, even beaten by Williams’ Franco Colapinto.
