Mercedes aren’t favourites to win any of the five remaining races this year, says Lewis Hamilton.
The world championship leader won last week’s race in Russia after he was able to make his single pit stop during a Virtual Safety Car period. But he says Ferrari, who ran one-two in the opening laps of the race, are likely to be the team to beat for the rest of year, largely due to their straight-line speed.“I think Austin can be good for us,” said Hamilton in Russia last weekend. “The ones where we have the longest straight, it’s harder to offset those long straights like here, Mexico’s not an easy one.
“Brazil could be still good for us because we’re generally working well at the hottest circuits, in general. There’s obviously that one big straight but it’s not killer elsewhere. I think all the other races have quite long straights.”
Hamilton says the team must ensure it delivers on Saturdays so it is in position to exploit its race pace.
“If we get the car in the right position for qualifying, enable ourselves to qualify in the right position, I think we generally have been stronger in most of the race trims,” he said. “But positioning is really everything.
“I don’t think were going to be favourites in these races but I think we can still turn heads.”
Beating Ferrari will be “super hard” in next week’s race at Suzuka, he added. “But not impossible, as we’ve shown.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
5th October 2019, 9:25
But the Mexican GP venue despite its long main straight offsets the power/straight line-speed advantage of Ferrari due to the altitude, though. All the remaining circuits have at least one long(ish) straight, but a lot of corners as well, so not really power-tracks in the true sense.
grat
7th October 2019, 1:08
Regardless of the altitude, all things being equal, the cars will have the same relative performance.
Now, if Mercedes has a better turbo than Ferrari, for instance, they may do better, but if the turbos are roughly equal, and Ferrari’s getting their power out of the ERS, Ferrari will still be faster.
The thinner air will mean hotter running engines, though, so Ferrari may have reliability issues.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
5th October 2019, 9:29
If they’ll perform for most remaining races, then this must be one of their best recoveries.
Ipsom
5th October 2019, 10:08
If the track is not overtaking friendly and Leclerc is able to put in one of those stellar laps to get pole, it’s possible.
But Ferrari won’t be able to get pole in all races.
Also Hamilton is on cruise control now, no need to push extra.
Sham (@sham)
5th October 2019, 10:56
Just as well you only have to finish fourth in each remaining race then, Lewis.
It’s been an epic year for him, truly, even when Ferrari have been faster… He’s been like a dog with a bone, the man just never stops chasing.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
5th October 2019, 12:23
Yes, hamilton used to give up when he wasn’t first even just in 2018, he improved this year, more tenacious.
grat
7th October 2019, 1:09
I’m sorry, which Hamilton are you talking about? The closest I can remember to Lewis Hamilton “giving up” was letting Rosberg have the last 4 races of 2015.
Islander
5th October 2019, 11:44
Lewis loves to lower expectations, thereby enhancing his standing when he brings off a good result.
It’s been his preferred media strategy since forever.
But let’s be fair. He is maximising the Merc potential and leaving very little on the table on Sundays.
Ferrari, by contrast, whenever they have the edge on straight line pace, have always disappeared up their own backside with intra team claptrap or with reliability, [whichever will come about sooner].
Lew will be champ this year, that’s plain.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
5th October 2019, 12:24
That’s not been the question since a while, the question is: will bottas be 2nd in the championship? Afraid so, looked like they were gonna catch him, but not so much lately.
Donny Meacon
6th October 2019, 8:18
Many keep hyping Bottas or their own idea that having same car as LH means they can beat him. They fail to learn what it takes to beat LH. They need to talk to Toto privately to get clear understanding that its almost next to impossible for a teammate to beat LH fairly unless LH simply allows it as he tends to do towards the end or at the beginning of the season when nothing is on the line.
Hugh (@hugh11)
5th October 2019, 15:07
Not just Lewis, the whole of Mercedes do that. In fact, when they say things like that, it makes me more expectant of them.
F1oSaurus (@)
6th October 2019, 15:28
@hugh11 Not just Mercedes. Ferrari does it too. They both claim they are the underdog even when they were fastest in every session up till the race.
Only Red Bull and McLaren seem to be the ones stating up front how great they will be.
dex
6th October 2019, 8:03
Agreed, Toto is not above playing down Mercedes chances, he got into the habit some years ago when it was a ‘one horse’ race for Mercedes to stop fans from turning off! Now he’s doing it there is some truth in his expectations.
RB13
7th October 2019, 14:00
Or he just knows Mercedes are ploughing 80 resources into 2020 and they’ll be dominant at the start of next year. It’s smart and explains why noone at Mercedes is really taking these recent losses too hard at all.
RB13
7th October 2019, 14:01
*80%
Suri VG
5th October 2019, 12:02
Thats the way Lewis operates, unlike erstwhile Championship, Praise the opponent, puzzle them, lower the expectations, then attack.
His new approach not to win from front but to manage tyres brakes and attack from rear and in the second half of the race reminds me of Danny Pedrosa in 2016 – 2017 Moto GP races.
Lewis will do 6th Championship and end with with 85 race wins bu end of this season.
Mercedes will come back even stronger next year.
DAllein (@)
5th October 2019, 13:15
Remember how they told the same in Australia and then went on to win crazy number of races?))
This time it might be different of course, but they are still an incredibly strong team, so I expect close fights everywhere.
And Suzuka – yes, it has 900m straight, but otherwise it is quite not-a-straight circuit… And what if Ferrari can’t find the window for tyres…
Philups
5th October 2019, 13:18
Yes they are!
Sorry Lewis, but the boy cried Wolff to many times.
Mobius Clean (@mobiusclean)
5th October 2019, 13:20
Blah blah blah.
All you need is a safety car or two Lewis.
RB13
7th October 2019, 14:03
@mobiusclean yes because he’s won the majority of races this year thanks to safety cars hasn’t he.
F1tifoso
8th October 2019, 4:40
2 times from the last 3 wins;)
JohnH (@johnrkh)
5th October 2019, 13:33
Well yes Leclerc has definitely injected some much needed energy into the Ferrari team. I still thing Merc are at least on equal footing as they have a pretty good record at the remaining circuits. I know Hamilton only has to maintain his lead now, but I think he will still be pushing for wins.
RocketTankski
5th October 2019, 13:56
Mercedes are never the favourite to win anything anywhere though. Every lap is a gift, every podium is a miracle.
Dean
6th October 2019, 1:47
spot on…
nickthegreek (@nickthegreek)
7th October 2019, 13:11
hahaha I laughed
JC
5th October 2019, 14:26
Curious if there will be a technical directive issued after some targeted questions by a silver team, that outlaws the suspected oil combustion Ferrari are doing (which in turn maximises the amount of electrical energy they can directly deploy or harvest). If not in this season, but just before the start of next season…
anon
5th October 2019, 20:19
Red Bull were already throwing some public comments and questions around about Ferrari’s engine and their fuel blends back in April, so it sounds as if there are several teams that are raising questions about what Ferrari might be doing.
KGN11
6th October 2019, 7:19
You can’t deploy more than the 120 kw/200 nm as that number is fixed & heavily regulated. See Ricciardo/Renault’ disqualification in Singapore
David BR (@david-br)
5th October 2019, 15:03
I expect Mercedes to be more or less level with Ferrari in Japan, Brazil and the US. So down to setup, weather and individual performance. Ferrari can continue their strategy of focusing on qualifying and grid position, but race pace is more important for all those tracks. Mexico will probably be bad for Mercedes. Abu Dhabi very probably irrelevant (championships over). It would take a lot of issues and a Red Bull resurgence for Hamilton to lose this one.
Bulgarian (@bulgarian)
5th October 2019, 16:53
My advice to Lewis Hamilton – as you are close to the title, just make sure you finish on the podium for the next couple of races. When 6h title is yours, you can start risk more and make life harder for Ferrari. Good luck!
DarkSchneider
5th October 2019, 19:43
yeah yeah …
Like Mercedes are 1s behind since the early season test, right …
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
5th October 2019, 20:49
How can we believe this, even if it is true?
Whenever Mercedes open their mouths about competitiveness, we can rest assured it is not exact truth.
AMG44 (@amg44)
5th October 2019, 22:31
70% was sure about this after Monza and 100% after Singapore that Ferrari is the favorite to win every remaining race this year. They are killing it on the straights this year. The average gap of 7 to 8 tenths they pull out on the straights is very hard to recover in the corners by Mercedes and Redbull.
A bit like the Ducati in MotoGP where most of the advantage they gain is on the straights (Top speed and acceleration). Especially in 2016 and 2017 season they were killing the competition and only an Alien rider like Marquez could do anything about the ‘Jet Mode’ Ducatis.
Mercedes needs luck like in the last race at Russia or rain to win any of the remaining races.
papaya
8th October 2019, 10:30
Too bad then with Jet Mode, Godlike mode, Ducati still couldn’t take away the championship from Marc Marquez in year 2016 & 2017. How irony is that Quartararo on slowest engine with rev limiter is the man to challenge the Alien next season.
Richard C (@rich156)
6th October 2019, 9:47
Ferrari have made a quantum leap in downforce terms for the last 4 races. Lewis is right in saying the Mercs are not favourites but the reality is <0.25% in overall performance. So a motivated Lewis Hamilton in a reliable car is hard to beat & the 2 roosters squabbling at ferrari will make for interesting racing.
Vettel has history ignoring team orders & underlined is intentions in russia. The message for Leclerc is slipstream your teammate past the Mercs for the team but make damn sure you're still ahead after the first lap. Even then, ferrari comes first. Brutal lesson.
formevic (@formevic)
7th October 2019, 18:42
Poor Don Chisciotte Lewis, he always has to fight vs windmills-giant-rich teams having a nag. A victory will be a miracle, true hero ever.
papaya
8th October 2019, 10:26
2019 is a strange and exciting (?) year in F1… 1st half Mercedes championship, 2nd half Ferrari domination.