Hamilton optimistic about Mercedes from Saudi Arabia

Lewis Hamilton said Mercedes could take “positives” out of Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after he and teammate George Russell finished fifth and fourth, respectively.

For a few hours, Russell was promoted to third after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was handed a post-race 10-second penalty for an infringement during his pit stop when he was serving a five-second penalty for making a false start.

Russell described the decision as “harsh,” a view that the FIA agreed with when Aston Martin appealed. Nevertheless, Alonso was reinstated for the 100th podium of his career.

That change, however, did not take the gloss off an encouraging weekend for Mercedes, although, like everyone else, they are struggling to keep pace with the Red Bulls of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, who completed a third successive 1-2.

“We got some great points as a team today,” said Hamilton immediately after the race. “George got third, which is amazing. I went forward, one foot in front of the other!

“I’m grateful to have come from seventh place.

“The strategy didn’t work for me. The setup was a bit off. I would be in a better position if I had George’s setup. There are lots to work on, but we can take the positives.”

Mercedes still finished far behind the commanding Red Bulls as Perez claimed his fifth career victory ahead of defending double champion Max Verstappen, who came through the field from 15th on the grid.

Mercedes once enjoyed similar domination, winning eight consecutive constructors’ titles.

“You’ve got to give credit to what Red Bull has done,” said Russell. “The gap is bigger than any since Mercedes in 2014. It’s a serious gap, and everyone needs to work harder.”

Mercedes, who struggled in 2022 and took fifth and seventh in this season’s opening race in Bahrain, has changed direction with their car development.

“We’ve made the right decision over the winter, and we can regain our pace quicker now,” Russell said. “We want to win races and fight for the championship.

“But we’ve got to be realistic. So we’ll focus on ourselves and get the fundamentals right.”

Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff, who conceded during the week that Hamilton might leave the team if it failed to improve its cars, agreed.

“I think we are seeing some performance gains compared to Bahrain, which is encouraging,” he said.

“But it’s going to be long before we can think about challenging the Red Bulls.” (AFP)