Lewis Hamilton: “Red Bull and Ferrari are in a different league here”

Lewis Hamilton admitted that the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team knew coming into the Japanese Grand Prix weekend that they would not be fighting for pole position or the front row, and it proved to be a correct assumption as he qualified only sixth on the grid on Saturday.

Hamilton felt both Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari were in ‘a different league’ compared to Mercedes in qualifying trim at the Suzuka International Racing Course, and he also found himself outqualified by BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon.

And the seven-time World Champion felt ‘fundamental limitations’ with the W13 prevented him from qualifying any further up the grid despite having a clean session on Saturday.

“We knew coming to this circuit that we wouldn’t be competing for the front row or the win – the Red Bull and Ferrari are in a different league here, and we have some fundamental limitations with our car,” said Hamilton.

“It feels good to drive and it was a clean session for me, but we are just a long way off in terms of the ultimate pace. We are pushing as hard as we can and it feels strong in the corners, but we are losing on the straights at this circuit.”

Hamilton believes Mercedes should be closer to Red Bull and Ferrari in race conditions on Sunday, but he may need the intervention of the weather to beat either of them in a straight fight.

“For tomorrow, I hope we will be a little bit closer, and maybe the weather will play a role, too,” he said.  “I don’t think we can race the cars in front in a straight fight – but I hope we can beat the Alpines and my focus is simply on scoring a better result than we managed last weekend.”

“P8 is not where we hoped to be qualifying here in Suzuka” – George Russell

Team-mate George Russell admitted eighth on the grid was not what Mercedes were hoping for heading into the weekend, and he was downbeat that the team were embroiled in a battle with Alpine rather than the Red Bulls and Ferraris.

Russell believes Mercedes lost significant time on the straights at Suzuka due to the draggy nature of their W13, and he hopes next year’s car will be vastly improved when it comes to its downforce levels.

Despite the disappointment of Qualifying, Russell believes he can have a much better race on Sunday as he aims to return to the points following the disappointing fourteenth place finish last weekend in Singapore.

“P8 is not where we hoped to be qualifying here in Suzuka,” said Russell.  “We didn’t expect to quite be in the fight with Red Bull and Ferrari, but we are a long way off them, and in fact had our own close battle today with Alpine.

“We know that our car has a lot of drag and on circuits like this, where you need a lot of downforce but also to be slippery on the straights, we tend to lose out. That’s something we are working towards correcting for next year, but it takes time to do so.

“Looking ahead to the race, I think we will have stronger pace than we showed today: our long runs in FP3 were decent, but I’m not sure if it will be enough to race the top four cars tomorrow.”

George Russell will line-up eighth on the grid but hopes for better on Sunday – Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd