Lewis Hamilton has pinpointed where he thinks Mercedes are losing ground on Ferrari and Red Bull after a tough two days for the Silver Arrows at the French Grand Prix.
After a recent resurgence, with Hamilton notching three podium finishes in his last three races, the seven-time world champion arrived at the Circuit Paul Ricard with high hopes of a first F1 win in 2022. Especially given the Constructors' champions can boast recent upgrades to their W13 cars.
Pundit Damon Hill even tipped him to take the chequered flag, but such optimism seemed misplaced when both Hamilton and George Russell were off the pace in Friday's second practice session. And their struggles continued into qualifying on Saturday.
Although Hamilton was fourth, and Russell fifth, the 37-year-old's best time was nearly one second slower that Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who took pole. Max Verstappen was second with his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez third.
Initially, Hamilton seemed at a loss to explain why Mercedes had seemingly under-performed, but has since specified the part of the track where he thinks him and Russell are coming up short: "In the last lap, my first sector was just as quick as the guys ahead," he said, via RacingNews365.com.
"But then we lose a lot down the straights, I think at least half a second, and then all through that high-speed section in the last few corners. It's like [Ferrari and Red Bull] have less drag and more downforce on all the corners."
Despite outlining the issues, Hamilton still seemed perplexed over the difference in pace: "The last sector was like six, seven tenths or something crazy. A lot of it's just full throttle.
"Some of it's just that drag, but for some reason, they were able to go much quicker through the high-speed corners than us, so I don't know. We just keep working away."
The F1 race represents the 300th of Hamilton's stellar career, a marker only four drivers before him have reached. His hopes of celebrating it with a podium have been boosted by a grid penalty to Carlos Sainz, but he may now be reliant on further mishaps from those in front of him.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff meanwhile, admitted it wasn't good enough for his team to trail behind Ferrari and Red Bull: "We knew that once we got the new tyres on and that we are driving the car in anger a little bit that we’re going to be in there as a third force, like we’ve been all season, but it’s just not good enough," he told reporters.
"You can see that when you’re a little bit on the back foot and you’re expectations are on a certain level for the race weekend, and it doesn’t come together, a kind of freestyling starts. With us it was mainly experimenting with rear wing levels and also tyre temperatures, but at the end the overall package is just not quick enough and we can see that."
Wolff, 50, has seen his team claim the Constructors' title for eight consecutive campaigns. Any hopes of a ninth in 2022 are essentially already over, with the Silver Arrows lying third, 122 points off leaders Red Bull.
