Lewis Hamilton believes the Mercedes W15 Formula 1 car is “better everywhere” after the team secured their best qualifying result of the season at the British Grand Prix on Saturday.
The seven-time world champion qualified in second place in wet conditions behind teammate George Russell while McLaren’s Lando Norris was third to make it a trio of British drivers that will start from the front in Sunday’s home race.
It was the first time since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix that Mercedes had a 1-2 in qualifying and Hamilton acknowledged that there has been a shift for the German manufacturer after their troubling start to the season.
“Massive difference. Everywhere. It’s just better everywhere. From Bahrain, for example, the car felt terrible, and the progress that we made in terms of dialling and fine-tuning the car to optimise the aero package,” the 39-year-old said.
“This team has never struggled to add performance, but where particularly they put that performance has always been, with this generation of car, has been a big question and where we’re getting the downforce from.
“They’ve done an amazing job, the engineers back at the factory. But, you know, look, it’s… We’d definitely take it today, but these guys are still… Red Bull, particularly Max, and the McLarens are very, very, very fast.
“And in some ways, you know, you saw in the last race, they were quite a bit ahead of us. So I’m hoping that tomorrow, with the conditions, we can hold our own.”
An all-Silver Arrows front row for the British GP and it feels so good 😍 pic.twitter.com/pgbnmT3WbO
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 6, 2024
Hamilton is the most successful driver at the British Grand Prix with a record eight victories, three more than Jim Clark and Alain Prost.
