Lewis Hamilton has admitted he has no longer felt he has been at his highest in Formula One for greater than a 12 months. The British motive force conceded after the Hungarian Grand Prix that suffering with an off-the-pace Mercedes has left him under the extent at which he wish to be appearing.
Hamilton had claimed pole on Saturday for the race in Budapest however was once crushed off the road through the winner Max Verstappen after which handed through the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Hamilton recovered to come back again and declare fourth position, appearing some velocity within the ultimate stint.
Last season he completed 6th on the planet championship and this 12 months has taken simplest 4 podiums and after the Hungarian GP was once truthful in his evaluate.
“I haven’t been at my best for over a year,” he mentioned. “Yesterday [Saturday] felt like it was me being back to my best. When asked to clarify he acknowledged it was a combination of himself and the car.
Certainly he was clear the Mercedes had not been up to scratch in race pace at the Hungaroring.
“It’s obvious we’re not the fastest, we don’t have the fastest car,” he mentioned. “I’m in reality pleased with myself and the process that we did the day prior to this to get pole place to outperform the arena champion and the opposite two vehicles that have been sooner than us.
“Today is solely fact. The fact is we don’t seem to be rapid sufficient. They already instructed me in technique this morning I might be a minimum of five-tenths slower than the Red Bull so the struggle isn’t with Max. We have been hoping lets struggle the McLarens however the McLaren was once too fast.”
Meanwhile, Verstappen was left with a broken trophy after McLaren’s Norris sent it tumbling off the top step of the podium. A smiling Verstappen left the ceremony with the broken pink pot under his arm. Norris and Verstappen are friends and could joke about it in the post-race press conference.
“I’m no longer positive,” said Norris when asked what happened, to laughter. “Max just placed it too close to the edge. It fell over I guess. Not my problem, it’s his.”