Lewis Hamilton does not think he will start the first race weekend at the Madring with a huge lead. The Ferrari driver was allowed to explore the new circuit earlier this year during a filming day, but according to the Brit, the only advantage now is that he already knows the layout of the track a bit: “We didn’t even drive at full speed in many corners.”
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Formula 1 faces a completely new challenge this weekend: for the first time, the premier class travels to the Madring. Only ambassador of the Spanish circuit Carlos Sainz and the two Ferrari drivers were allowed to drive on the track while the work was still ongoing. According to Lewis Hamilton, this therefore did not provide a huge advantage for him.
“I don’t think I gained much advantage,” Hamilton explains to the media about Ferrari’s earlier filming day at the Madring. “It was dusty, super dusty. There was also no grip, and we couldn’t adjust the car because it wasn’t a test. It was a filming day.” Ferrari therefore could not bring upgrades to the SF-26 and had to run the filming day on special Pirelli tires. “We didn’t even drive at full speed in many corners. We had too little power and grip,” Hamilton continues. “The only advantage I have after the filming day is that I know the direction of the circuit, so honestly, I don’t think there are many advantages for us.”
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‘Ferrari does excellent work in that’
Because it is a new circuit, it is important for teams to find the right setups immediately. According to Hamilton, Ferrari is good at that. “Honestly, I think the guys here and at this team do excellent work with the simulations, and as a result, we often arrive with a car that is already in a pretty good position,” he says. “So I think we have a good starting position.”
Still, that does not make the challenge any less big this weekend, Hamilton thinks. “It is a hugely challenging circuit. Of all the new circuits I have been to, this circuit and the one in Saudi Arabia are the two that are closest to each other in terms of the difficulty of mastering the car and finding the right lines.”
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