"We were trying to stay out and bank in for Safety Car" - Lewis Hamilton explains his strategy at the 2024 F1 Saudi Arabia GP after finishing 9th

Lewis Hamilton believes that the Safety Car spoiled his chances of a better points finish. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda after the Saudi Arabian GP, the Briton lamented his strategy in the race despite the pace in the car.

Finishing ninth in the race, Lewis Hamilton had an eventful race around the Jeddah circuit. An early safety car with an offset strategy by Mercedes to keep him out saw him drop to ninth towards the end of the race. The Briton was seen pitting later around lap 37 for soft tyres, but was unable to make up places to finish in the top 5. He felt that pace in the high speed areas of the circuit was one of their weaknesses.

While they were evenly matched with the McLarens and Fernando Alonso, both the Mercedes drivers finished outside the top 5. Lewis Hamilton felt he had maximized the potential of his car and felt they were very strong in low speed corners but lacked performance elsewhere. He admitted enjoying battles in the race but was unhappy with a ninth-place finish.

Asked by Sportskeeda to pinpoint where the race fell away from him, Lewis Hamilton said:

“Just, we didn't get a safety car at the end, and that was, we're trying to stay out and banking for that, but there was not a lot of dig between the medium and the hards. So once we lost that 20 seconds, it's hard to recover that.”

Asked if the decision to stay out during the safety car period was correct, he said:

“Well, in the end, it wasn't, but we tried.”

On whether he enjoyed racing for positions and having a more eventful race compared to the others, Lewis Hamilton said:

“I don't know what I am saying I'm having fun. I mean, I'm racing for ninth. So I definitely can't say that finishing in ninth is definitely not fun. But I am enjoying the actual racing part and I was hunting and I was pushing as hard as I could. I was maximizing everything I had with the car. I was right on the edge of it was just unfortunately really lacking performance in the high speed where they were walking all over it. But there are positives, the cars good in the low speed. We've got some areas that we have to add a lot of load in the high speed I think if we were able to do that then I think It's us in the fight, but we've got some work to do.”

---

Lewis Hamilton praises Oliver Bearman on his F1 debut

Lewis Hamilton jumped out of his car after the race to congratulate British junior driver Oliver Bearman. The junior Briton, who had stepped in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, scored his first points of the season finishing seventh ahead of the seven-time world champion. The Mercedes champion felt that it was commendable that the 18-year-old driver managed to score points on his F1 debut without any practice sessions or time in the car.

Asked how he felt about Bearman’s performance, Lewis Hamilton said:

“Yeah, I mean, I think the Ferrari first is looking very strong. Obviously the closest to the Red Bulls, but to be pulled out of your class and put straight into a Ferrari and a top team, and have to go straight into practice without long runs and all that sort of things. I think he did such a phenomenal job today this weekend, and just shows that he's a really bright future star.”

Bearman scored six points in his first F1 race, four more than Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari debutant had qualified eleventh on the grid and had to forgo both his F2 races where he had qualified in pole position. His debut impressed several drivers on the grid and is expected to do several FP1 outings with Haas in the 2024 season.