Lewis Hamilton conceded that Mercedes is a step behind its rivals, claiming Red Bull and McLaren are “on rails” during Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
McLaren appears a cut above the rest at the Hungaroring with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri securing a front-row lockout, the 63rd in the team’s illustrious history.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen, the sole Red Bull in the top-10 Q3 shootout after Sergio Perez crashed out in Q1, finished in third during Saturday’s qualifying.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell also suffered a Q1 exit as Hamilton completed the top five in qualifying, with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari separating Formula 1’s latest 2024 race winner from the top three.
“I’ve struggled this weekend with the car, particularly in the heat it’s been really, really difficult to find a balance where the car is not snappy,” Hamilton said after qualifying.
“If you look at the Red Bull and the McLaren, they just don’t have the oversteer. The car is just on rails.
“For us, the heat makes it worse. When we started qualifying and it was cooler, we were in a much better place.
“As soon as it started to dry and got hotter, then we struggled. Not ideal and not great for George because he was looking better than me at least through practice.”
Hamilton finished roughly six-tenths adrift of the top three in Saturday’s quali session and despite admitting Mercedes could have found a tenth of a second in going out later in Q3 as the Hungaroring track surface got grippier, there’s no way he could have troubled the top runners.
“I think we could have maybe gone a tenth or two quicker if we’d gone out later for example,” Hamilton said.
“The track was continuously ramping up, but we definitely couldn’t have done what the guys up there have done.”
After his triumphant return to victory last time out at Silverstone, Hamilton no doubt would have held high hopes coming into the weekend, for he already has eight Formula 1 victories in his pocket in Hungary.
However, as the weekend has developed, the high track temperatures have seen Mercedes forced out of contention and Hamilton sees that trend continuing into race day.
“I heard it’s going to be roasting like [Friday]” he said.
“So that’s not going to be fun but everyone is going to be in a similar position. It’ll be really interesting.
“If the guys ahead pull away, it’s either because they’ve got more downforce or they have more cooling on their tyres than we do, or they have both. Time will tell.”
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