Lewis Hamilton has admitted he is “used to” being outqualified by George Russell after losing out at the Mexico City Grand Prix despite his Mercedes team-mate using a significantly older car floor.
Mercedes introduced a new floor at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, but as both drivers struggled with the handling of the W15, Russell crashed in qualifying and for Sunday’s race in Austin had to switch back to an iteration of the floor first run at July’s British Grand Prix.
The Brit then crashed again during Friday’s second practice in Mexico and had to revert to an even older version of the floor, first introduced at May’s Miami Grand Prix, but still managed to better Hamilton by almost three tenths of a second as they qualified fifth and sixth.
Russell’s qualifying head-to-head advantage over Hamilton is now at 15-5 for the season, which is the seven-time world champion’s last at Mercedes before he joins Ferrari next year.
“I’m losing all the time, that’s why I’ve been so bad in qualifying all year,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “It’s a normal thing and I’m used to it.
“We have done everything. We worked so hard in the background, like everyone does, to get the car in a nice place.
“It was feeling good in final practice, so we were like, ‘let’s not touch anything or do anything’. All we changed was the rear wing and it’s just a drastic difference.
“Every time I get to qualifying the car is completely different. I can’t pinpoint why, but it is what it is.”
Hamilton has been far more competitive on Sundays and holds a 10-point lead over Russell in the drivers’ standings with five races of the 2024 season remaining.
Looking ahead to the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Hamilton added: “Maybe George is more comfortable on the older package. I don’t know, we’ll see. We’ll get a good reading of which is best.”
Russell: It was one of my best laps of the season
Despite his impressive qualifying form this season, Russell came into the session under pressure following his two heavy crashes, which left the Mercedes mechanics needing to work through the night to have his car ready for Saturday’s sessions.
“The lap was really, really strong,” Russell told Sky Sports F1. “After everything that happened [on Friday] and Austin, it has been a whirlwind for us the last couple of weeks and now racing on a floor that we brought in Miami, 14 races ago, to be right up there only a tenth behind P3 was really strong and I’m pretty pleased with it.
“We are in Miami-spec at the moment. Obviously all down to my own issues and incidents that I’ve had. It’s put a lot of pressure on the team, they did a great job in Austin to sort the car, they did a great job last night, it’s put a lot of pressure on everyone at the factory.
“So from that side I’m a little bit disappointed with myself, but I’m pushing the limits and I’m trying to get more from this car. Now maybe we just need to accept we are the fourth-fastest team. We should be qualifying seventh and eighth, today we qualified fifth and sixth so that should be a good day.”
As to how he was able to perform Hamilton by such a significant margin, Russell believed he had produced one of his best laps of the season.
“It was really close with Lewis and I the whole session, I don’t know what happened with him at the end,” the Brit added.
“My lap I was really happy with, I think it was one of my best of the season.
“At the end of the day I was still half a second or so from pole position but we know from one session to the next, if you take yesterday as an example, I was quickest in FP1 and the two laps I did in FP2 we were P10. So, it’s not just down to the upgrades.”
Bernie: Younger Russell should have better reactions than Hamilton
Reaction to Hamilton’s post-session interview, Sky Sports F1 pundit and former Aston Martin head of race strategy Bernie Collins analysed the 39-year-old’s struggles.
“I think qualifying has been a struggle for Lewis in this season particularly,” Collins said.
“George is doing better but then they’re much more evenly matched in the race. Maybe that’s what you’d expect a little bit at the stage that they’re at in their career.
“If we look at it that way, George should have the quicker reactions, which is more important in qualifying. But Lewis is always there or there about in race pace. So, it is about converting on Saturday and it’s sad to see him so disappointed there.”
Despite Hamilton saying that on this occasion he had made minimal changes to his car between final practice and qualifying, Collins questioned whether late weekend adjustments to the W15 have contributed to his lack of one-lap speed.
“Regularly when we’re in the pit lane between P3 and qualifying, they’re tearing Lewis’ car apart to make some changes, and George is pretty happy,” Collins said.
“I don’t know if that’s an overreaction between Lewis and the engineers to whatever’s happened in P3, and George is just more settled.
“We talk a lot about letting the track come to you and letting the grip change. You don’t need to turn the world around based on the P3 standings. So maybe there’s a little bit of that.
“There are such fine margins here that a little bit of brake or tyre temperature makes all the difference, it’s getting all of that together working.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Mexico City GP schedule
Sunday October 27
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up*
8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Race build-up on Sunday from 7.30pm)
Formula 1’s Americas triple header continues with the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday with lights out at 8pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime