Lewis Hamilton makes confession after Mexico GP with Mercedes off Ferrari pace
Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth and finished fourth at the Mexican Grand Prix, benefitting from penalties for Max Verstappen before overtaking Mercedes team-mate George Russell
Lewis Hamilton speaks in the media pen after the Mexican Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton was pleased with his Mexican Grand Prix result but frustrated at himself over a set-up mistake.
The Brit finished fourth, two places higher than his qualifying position and was pleased to have made progress. He benefitted from Max Verstappen‘s huge penalties picked up while battling with Lando Norris, while Hamilton also got the better of team-mate George Russell late on.
Still, neither of the Mercedes drivers were ever in podium contention. Right up until Charles Leclercpitted on the penultimate lap so he could snatch the fastest lap point, both were more than half-a-minute behind the Ferrari driver in third place.
And the seven-time F1 champion conceded that he had made a set-up mistake which hampered him during the Grand Prix. He said: “Firstly, really good to get fourth and fifth. I am happy that I was able to move forward and just have a better weekend than the last and see it through all the way to the end of the race and get those points.
“I am really grateful for that and happy with the performance in general. I got a good start and then I had a lot of understeer because… my fault, but I took too much front wing out of the car. And I had knocked out the front tyres basically in that first stint. After the changes, after the pit stop, [it was] much, much better.
“But it was a really, really insightful and informative race because I could feel exactly where the car was working and where it was not. It is very, very clear in my mind where the car is giving up and I could see the difference between George and I when I am behind.
“So it will be interesting to see… they have now all of this information from both of our cars running. So good points, good data for both of us and hopefully [it will] put us in a better position for the next race.”
