F1 Japanese GP: Lewis Hamilton rules out win with Mercedes losing 0.5-0.6s on straights
The seven-time world champion qualified a distant sixth on Saturday, two places ahead of Mercedes teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell, but was nearly a full second adrift of polesitter 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen.
Mercedes set the pace on Friday during a 🍬wet second practice but fell back in dry conditions seen during FP3 and qualifying at Suzuka.
“We were losing a lot of time on the straights but the car was feeling good 🐎in other parts of the lap, so it was fun and my 🌃lap was generally good,” Hamilton told Sky.
"I d🎉idn’t have any problems otherwise, I think we are losing something like five or six tenths just on the straights. But otherwise, we kind of anticipated🌄 it. We have a bigger [rear] wing than the other guys.”
The rain could return for Sunday’s grand prix, with mixed conditions forecast. Hamilton is hopeful wet weather could bring ﷽Mercedes back into contention.
“It depends on the conditions we have,” he explained. “If it rains, w🅠e didn’t look too bad yesterday in the wet conditions.
“So I think either way we should be a little bit closer than we were today. Just hoping for a better race result than what we had last wee꧟k.”
Asked if he thinks Mercedes could fight for victory at Suzuka, Hamilton said: “Ah, that’s a real reachꦫ to try and sa𝓡y we can get a win.
“Those guys are nine tenths ahead. You don’t go from being nine tenths behind in qualꦑifying to winning a race.”
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