Lewis Hamilton insists that his team need to focus on improving their qualifying pace if he is to stand any chance of winning the title this season.
Hamilton admits that the MP4-25’s race pace is good enough, this is evident from their current second placed standing in the constructors championship after two races, but the Brit believes the car’s one-lap pace falls far below par after qualifying fourth and 11th in the opening rounds.
“In both Bahrain and Australia we’ve felt more comfortable with our race pace than the pace we showed in qualifying,” said Hamilton. “While that’s encouraging, it’s become clear we need to improve our qualifying pace if we’re to have a regular shot at winning races.
“It’s all very well being quick in the race, but if you can’t make up places from your grid position, then your race is still going to be a struggle.
“We can take home the positives: our car is fast, much faster than it was this time last year, and it seems to be reliable. Now we need to work on single-lap pace.”
Hamilton is worried that in races such as Monaco, where over-taking is a near impossibility, the McLarens will struggle to qualify high enough to challenge for the race win.
The 25-year old was left with a bitter taste in his mouth in Australia after a dubious strategy call by the Woking-based squad forced him to pit leaving him with a lot of work to do in order to gain any points. Fortunately, Hamilton was having the drive of his life and he managed to fight his way up to fifth before a collision with Mark Webber meant he finished the race in sixth.
Hamilton initially criticized the call, however, since the race he has agreed that the call was the correct decision and insists that “The key to a good championship is consistent points scoring.”
“Obviously, you want to score as many points as you can,” Hamilton added.
“[However] it’s still important to go for the finish, pocket the points, and live to fight another day.”
