Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes are ‘fighting to understand their car’, following a dismal Formula 1 sprint race for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Saturday.
Hamilton qualified a lowly 13th on Friday as team-mate George Russell mustered 11th. However the pair failed to make any progress in the Sprint event, with Russell stagnating in 11th and Hamilton dropping a position to 14th.
The seven-time world champion says the opening races have been a learning process, with the Imola weekend an exercise in data collecting in a bid to understand their car.
“We have got data,” replied Hamilton when asked about the Sprint race. “A lot of work is going on in the background. Ultimately, we haven’t got it right this year. Everyone is working hard to correct it.”
When it was suggested Mercedes haven’t faced such dire circumstances before, Hamilton rebuffed that claim.
“I disagree,” he added. “The team has been through many bad years. Most of the people I’m working with have been here 20 years. It wasn’t the greatest year in 2013.
“We stick together and try to motivate everyone. This is the situation we are faced with. Everyone has got their head down. We are obviously not fighting for the championship. We are fighting to understand the car. That’s all we can hope for, right now.”
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