Lewis Hamilton was never on the pace in Russia

« I don’t remember experiencing such a difficult weekend. The last one this tough was probably in Baku in 2016. » With these words, Lewis Hamilton highlights his lack of understanding regarding his performances during this Russian weekend.

The triple world champion never found the hoped-for rhythm and, while his teammate Valtteri Bottas sped towards victory, he had to settle for a 4th place, off the podium: “I was simply not fast enough. I can’t explain it yet but we will have work to do this week to understand it. I have some ideas about the feeling experienced during the race and qualifying, but we still have a lot of work to do to make it happen,” stated a dejected Hamilton after his race.

A race surprisingly won by his teammate Valtteri Bottas, whom the Briton does not fail to congratulate: « All my congratulations to Valtteri. He did an exceptional job today and truly deserves it. He was fast all weekend while doing such a good job for the team. He is a fantastic teammate to work with, and it’s an incredible feeling to win your first Grand Prix. »

But Hamilton quickly reflects on the cooling issues encountered by his car during the race: “I’ve never had cooling problems like this before, but it meant I was out of the race from the start. I think I had the pace to fight with Kimi, but the car kept overheating. I was easily losing 7 tenths per lap because of that, or even a second.”

The triple world champion knows, however, that a championship is neither lost nor won after four races. He remains confident for the rest of the championship: “There is still a long way to go, and I am still second in the championship. It’s not the end of the world,” he concluded.