Lewis Hamilton has expressed disappointment over the lack of pace in the Mercedes W13 car following qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, stating his result was a “kick in the teeth”.
The seven-time World Champion and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell will start Sunday’s Grand Prix from fourth and fifth respectively.
However, they were promoted up the grid due to various grid penalties being handed out in front of them, with Hamilton and Russell ending the session as the seventh and eighth fastest drivers.
Mercedes has struggled for pace throughout much of the 2022 season, but expressed hope it could enjoy a more successful second half of the campaign.
“It’s a car we continue to struggle with and I definitely won’t miss it at the end of the year,” said Hamilton.
“For me, it’s just about focusing on how we build and design next year’s car. The other two teams in front of us are in another league and our car looks so much different to theirs.”
Russell followed up with similar comments about the performance of Mercedes: “Struggling to comprehend how we were on pole at the last race and now we’re 1.8s off.
“We just can’t seem to get the tyres working. I’m confident we’ll have a lot more pace tomorrow. But we’re still probably half a second to a second behind Red Bull and Ferrari.
The Brit also hinted that less than optimal performance in qualifying has affected the spirit in the team. When asked what the mood was like around the Mercedes camp, Russell replied: “Not great because we want more than this.
“We know we don’t have the fastest car or the second fastest car but we definitely have a car that is capable of more than P8 and P7. We’ve got work to do.”
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