LE CASTELLET, France — Seven-time world
champion
Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth on Saturday for the French Grand Prix
but admitted rivals Ferrari and Red Bull are in a “place of their own”.
اضافة اعلان
The 37-year-old Briton, without a win after 11 races
this year, will line up Sunday for his 300th race knowing he faces a struggle
to close a significant performance deficit.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, world champion
Max Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez all qualified ahead of
Hamilton.
“They are in a place of their own,” said Mercedes
driver Hamilton.
“But we are still here and everyone behind us is
struggling so we just keep on fighting.”
He added that he was pleased to have recovered from
a shaky start to the weekend when he missed opening practice — handing his car
to reserve driver Nyck de Vries for a mandatory session — and had to “play
catch-up”.
“To be honest, I’m really happy with my qualifying.
My last lap was great.”
“Overall, I am not sure why the gap has got bigger.
They are kind of in their own league in that respect.”
He said that anticipation of the latest updates
package bringing a quantum leap in performance was misplaced.
“When we said we have updates, we brought the
tiniest thing. It could be half a tenth of half a tenth if it was perfect,” he
said.
“Last race, we were three or four tenths off, so
this weekend I thought we’d maybe be two-tenths off, but then we’ve been a
second back all weekend.”
Hamilton’s team-mate
George Russell, who was
out-qualified by friend and fellow Briton Lando Norris of McLaren, ended up
sixth and said he had made a mistake.
“As a team, we’re probably a bit further away from
what we hoped and probably expected, especially after yesterday. I made a
mistake on my last lap.”
“It’s not the end of the world. I think the gap is
more concerning than the finishing order.”
Read more Sports
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
