Lewis Hamilton has admitted he has not felt he has been at his best in Formula One for more than a year. The British driver conceded after the Hungarian Grand Prix that struggling with an off-the-pace Mercedes has left him below the level at which he would like to be performing.
Hamilton had claimed pole on Saturday for the race in Budapest but was beaten off the line by the winner Max Verstappen and then passed by the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Hamilton recovered to come back and claim fourth place, showing some pace in the final stint.
Last season he finished sixth in the world championship and this year has taken only four podiums and after the Hungarian GP was honest in his assessment.
“I haven’t been at my best for over a year,” he said. “Yesterday [Saturday] felt like it was me being back to my best.” When asked to clarify he acknowledged it was a combination of himself and the car.
Certainly he was clear the Mercedes had not been up to scratch in race pace at the Hungaroring.
“It’s obvious we’re not the quickest, we don’t have the quickest car,” he said. “I’m really proud of myself and the job that we did yesterday to get pole position to outperform the world champion and the other two cars that were quicker than us.
“Today is just reality. The reality is we are not fast enough. They already told me in strategy this morning I would be at least five-tenths slower than the Red Bull so the fight is not with Max. We were hoping we could fight the McLarens but the McLaren was too quick.”
Meanwhile, Verstappen was left with a broken trophy after McLaren’s Norris sent it tumbling off the top step of the podium. A smiling Verstappen left the ceremony with the broken pink pot under his arm. Norris and Verstappen are friends and could joke about it in the post-race press conference.
“I’m not sure,” said Norris when asked what happened, to laughter. “Max just placed it too close to the edge. It fell over I guess. Not my problem, it’s his.”
