Miami, CMC: Lewis Hamilton said he was “counting down the days” until the new Mercedes upgrade package arrives ahead of the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix from May 19 to 21 in Imola.
The British race car driver with Grenadian heritage finished sixth in the Miami GP last Sunday after he fought his way through the field from 13th on the starting grid and a problematic qualifying session the day before.
“I think to get from 13th to sixth, I’m pretty happy with that,” he said. “Unfortunately, we started far behind, but I enjoyed the race.
“Saturday was difficult, but I always try to turn negatives into positives. I had a lot of fugling through; it was great to have several battles, so I enjoyed it.”
Starting down the order, Mercedes gambled with the charterer off the line, hoping a longer first stint would pay dividends laton.
But Hamilton got stuck behind Thai driver Alex Albon in a Williams with a drag reduction system (DRS) train installed, and it looked as if traffiwouldto wreck their strategy.
Once several drivers around him made pit stops, Hamiltocouldto extended the life of heiresses and ran long enough to swap to mediatizes much later.
On fresh rubber, Hamilton picked off French driver Pierre Gasly in the Alpine and Monagasque driver Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari – running out of laps to chase down fifth-placed Spanish driver Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari.
“It wasn’t spectacular at the start as we were stuck in a DRS train and struggling to overtake,” Hamilton said. “I had to bide my ti, me, and then eventually. I could start attacking. The car was much better on the mediutirere and came alive midway through the race.”
The Silver Arrows have struggled in the past two races after it looked like they were emerging from a barren period for the team at the Australian Grand Prix on April 2.
Hamilton said the new upgrades were coming at the right time for Mercedes and looked forward to challenging the front-running teams like Red Bull.
“Been counting down the days for it,” the seven-time world champion. “I’ll find out this week what we are expecting.
“What kind of trajectory puts us, but I’m hopeful that helps us take a step forward. Others might also bring upgrades, so it will be interesting to see where we are with the lay of the land, but I’m excited.”
Hamilton is fourth in the drivers’ standings on 56 points – 63 behind defending champion and Red Bull ace Max Verstappen of the Netherlands – and Mercedes remains third in the constructors’ championship, behind Red Bull, on 224, and Aston Martin, on 102.
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