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Lewis Hamilton received backing from former F1 world champion Damon Hill after a disappointing Saudi Arabian GP.
Hamilton struggled all weekend, as he could not find the correct feeling with the car. He was outqualified by his Mercedes teammate George Russell comprehensively, and Alpine driver Esteban Ocon also got the jump on him, which exacerbated his woes.
Lewis Hamilton did recover to finish P5, but it wasn't all smooth sailing for him. His first stint on hard tyres was a massive struggle, as he was easily overtaken by Charles Leclerc who started the race on softs. Moreover, finishing behind his teammate George was not the best result for the Mercedes driver too.
Post-race, when Hill was questioned on Sky F1 if Hamilton could bounce back from this weekend, the former champion replied in the affirmative. Hill backed the Mercedes driver to come good, saying that's something he has done all his career:
"This is what Lewis does. He gets down and then fights back. Never count him out. He will go away and rebuild himself, and when he gets the car he wants, he will be formidable again."
Hamilton is fifth in the championship with 20 points, two points ahead of his teammate Russell.
Lewis Hamilton pins blame on car setup for poor weekend
After the race, Lewis Hamilton said that the major reason behind the lack of speed in Jeddah was the wrong setup. Explaining what went wrong, he told Sky F1,
"We got some great points for the team; George got third, and he did amazing. I went forwards, so I'm really grateful to have come from seventh to fifth. The strategy didn't really work out for me; the set-up was a little bit off - if I had the set-up George had, I would have been in a better position."
He added:
"But yeah, lots to work on but there are positives to take away from it. On set-up, there was a 50/50 choice. I chose one way, and he chose the other, and more often than not, the way he went was the wrong one, but it just happened to work. I could only match his pace rather than be quicker this weekend, but I'll work hard to make sure we're in a better position next weekend."
Mercedes are yet to secure a podium in the first two races of the season. The team has not started the season on the best note and will hope to fare better in the coming races.
