Lewis Hamilton says it was “strange” to see Ferrari finish behind both Mercedes cars at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.
Ahead of the event, Ferrari was tipped to display stronger pace compared to the season-opener in Bahrain.
Although Charles Leclerc showed positive speed in qualifying, a 10-place grid drop placed him outside the top 10 for the start of the grand prix.
George Russell stayed ahead of Carlos Sainz at the start of the race, while Lewis Hamilton benefited from a Safety Car and used fresh Mediums to move ahead of the Spaniard.
Russell and Hamilton crossed the line in fourth and fifth respectively, as Ferrari was unable to mount a comeback in the second half of the grand prix.
“[It was] definitely strange to see Ferrari were behind us, positive for us,” Hamilton said.
“[It’s a] different surface here and we don’t really understand why this surface and our car works in one way and it’s different in another.
“Lots of positives to take from this weekend, it will be up and down throughout the first few races, hopefully we can get some upgrades as soon as possible and try and close that gap to the faster cars.”
Hamilton also stated after the race that he had the wrong set-up for the race weekend, while team-mate George Russell had gone in a more stable direction.
However, the seven-time World Champion says it was a more comfortable ride behind the W14 during the race compared to qualifying.
“It was just a difficult decision to make, was a 50/50 chance, more than likely going to be the wrong decision,” he said
“But it just happened to the wrong decision set-up-wise, so I struggled in the first stint pace-wise with lots of understeer but the second stint was better.
“It’s on a massive knife edge when you’re above 95 per cent but when you’re in the race stint, it’s much more controllable, more predictable.”
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