Hamilton ‘Tried Everything’ in Battle Against Ocon during Japanese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton admitted the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team just did not have the straight-line speed needed during the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, and it left him unable to pass Esteban Ocon in their battle for fourth place.

Again and again, Hamilton got close to the BWT Alpine F1 Team driver, but when he pulled out to attempt an overtake, the pace of Ocon saw him draw far enough away from the seven-time World Champion to prevent him from passing.

Despite being forced to settle for fifth on Sunday afternoon, Hamilton admitted he enjoyed racing in the wet conditions around the Suzuka International Racing Course, and he was saddened that they were unable to race for the full race distance after rain restricted it to just a forty-minute sprint to the chequered flag.

“Once we got racing today, I had a blast out there – it was so tough in the conditions, hard to see and that’s exactly how motor racing should be; a real challenge for us all,” said Hamilton.

“I wish we had been able to go longer and do more laps for the fans who waited so patiently, but we ran to time and were beginning to lose the light.

“In terms of my race, I tried everything I could against Esteban but like we saw yesterday, we were just too slow in a straight line. As soon as I pulled out of the tow, he was able to pull away from me, and I just couldn’t get past even though we had a big pace advantage.

“I was trying every line and got so close, but he drove very well and didn’t make any mistakes, so that was the maximum we could do today. Now we need to pick the bones out of these two races and learn our lessons to maximise the points we can score in the final four races.”

Hamilton took time to congratulate Max Verstappen on taking the title in Japan, with the Dutchman securing his second consecutive Drivers’ crown by dominating the race from the front.

However, Hamilton, who remains winless so far in 2022, says he believes Mercedes have the personnel to return to the front of the field and take the fight to Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing in 2023.

“Finally, congratulations to Max – he’s done exactly the job he needed to do to win his second title,” he said.  “We know what our problems are with this car, and I believe we have the team to come back stronger next season.”

“I think we had a stronger car than the result reflects” – George Russell

Team-mate George Russell finished eighth in Sunday’s race after being forced to fight back through the field after being delayed pitting for intermediates as Mercedes double stacked their cars in the pit lane.

The British racer believes that without the delay in the pits he could have finished as high as sixth, with Russell finishing just behind the exciting battle between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

Russell says they will need to look into just what they could have done better during the Japanese Grand Prix, and he feels that double stacking in the pits cost him some positions.

“We need to review and see what we could have done better today,” Russell said.  “I think we had a stronger car than the result reflects, and that we could have been P6 today.

“I think that stacking in the pit lane cost me positions, and that made it a frustrating afternoon, so we need to look at it and see what the other options were. I made some good overtakes after that – but it was a case of trying to recover what we had lost.

“It was a strange afternoon overall: the conditions at the beginning were impossible, not with the grip but in terms of visibility and the amount of spray this generation of cars generates, and we need to learn the right lessons from the incident with the recovery vehicle on track while we were running behind the Safety Car.

“Overall, this has been a difficult double-header for us, and we’ve not scored the points we should have – so we need to regroup, focus on the final four races, and try to extract everything from the car we have under us.

“And of course, congratulations to Max on his second championship; the outcome has been clear for a while, but he and Red Bull have done an exceptional job this year.”

George Russell ended the Japanese Grand Prix in eighth place – Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd