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Lewis Hamilton will start the Spanish GP in sixth position after Mercedes' significant improvement this weekend. The porpoising issue that had hampered the team at every race weekend prior to this one was not much of a hindrance this time around. The Brackley-based team was even able to produce lap times in the vicinity of the second Red Bull and Ferrari drivers.
After the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton praised the team for the turnaround it had made and thanked it for the job it had done on the car. However, at the same time, the seven-time world champion was not entirely happy as he was out-qualified by his teammate George Russell.
“The team have done a great job so a big, big thank you to everyone for keeping pushing back at the factory because we don't have bouncing in a straight line which is a huge improvement for us and the car has generally been nicer this weekend. We do have some bouncing through the high speed corners like Turn 3 and 9 so we just need to keep working on it and see if we can gain some downforce elsewhere.”
He further said:
“I am a little bit gutted because I want to be further up ahead and you have obviously seen George is able to put it up further ahead than I, but I will keep pushing.”
The Briton then mentioned what his expectations for the race were by saying:
“Yesterday was our best race pace that we have had so if we could start racing with the Ferraris for example that would be amazing. I think the Red Bulls look like they might be quickest but we look like we could maybe compete with the Ferraris tomorrow and that is a big step for us.”
Hamilton will certainly be looking to maximize his performance and, perhaps, even to finish ahead of his teammate tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton is on a 4-race losing streak to George Russell
Lewis Hamilton has not beaten his teammate since the first race of the season in Bahrain and as a result, he trails his teammate by 23 points in the championship. The older Mercedes driver was heavily criticized by former F1 drivers Nico Rosberg and Ralf Schumacher for his drive in Imola where he finished outside the points and was outperformed by his teammate.
Meanwhile, Russell had an edge over the 37-year-old driver throughout the weekend and it should not be much of a surprise that he outqualified the star Mercedes driver. The seven-time world champion will be looking for payback, however, as he tries to end one of the worst losing streaks of his career.
