La Pole in Hungary despite not having converted into a victory for Lewis Hamilton, also excluded from the podium, gave hope to Mercedes and to Lewis himself, who on Thursday at Spa, in Belgium, the last stop before the summer break, analyzed the first part of the team's season and the objectives for the future.
The Pole wasted
We are exactly halfway through the season, and it's time to take stock. Mercedes are currently second in the constructors' championship, a position they will continue to protect throughout the season. Lewis Hamilton is optimistic about it, even after losing the starting advantage in Pole Position in Hungary. In fact, there is less bitterness knowing what terrain Mercedes competes in, i.e. the one occupied by all the other top teams apart from Red Bull. Getting to Pole is more of a personal satisfaction, it is in fact the only field in which you can challenge the Austrian team with "similar" weapons.
"I think we can still be optimistic – says Lewis Hamilton at the press conference. It was a fantastic Saturday, and one that showed that there is potential in the car and that everyone is working incredibly hard to increase performance. And I think in the end our race pace was very good and we understood what problems we had at the start - phase in which Lewis lost three positions – and we need to work on that. We also bring some updates this weekend and hope that the picture is interesting."
There is still much work to do
The overall balance of this first part of the season is good, but the balance is not as good. The updates have brought the W14 to a shape that is not yet perfect but certainly better than that of the first races. The first podiums started to arrive in succession from Spain onwards. One of the critical points on which the team is still working - as well as the main reason for complaints from the pilots - is precisely that of balance and the inconstancy of the W14. Differences in performance between one session or another and even between one driver and another are a symptom of an ungovernable machine. Development is therefore essential to solve these problems and to prevent the competition from taking a further step forward.
“We are analyzing our level to understand what to do to make those big steps forward that others have made, such as McLaren and Red Bull.. At the moment I think it's been a decent season, we haven't started at the level we would have liked at the beginning of the year, but we've made a lot of progress. And let's hope there are many more in the second phase. At the start of the season we expected to be first strength or at least in a better position than last year. But that didn't happen. Despite the extraordinary work we did over the winter, we still started far behind. But I'm really proud of the team because we are second in the constructors' championship, which is something we definitely expected after the first tests.. "
Will a victory come?
Closing the year in second position would also mean putting Mercedes back in a position to be able to aspire to victories next year which this year seem to be an unattainable result for everyone, with the exception of Red Bull.
"Since we can't catch Red Bull yet we would need a good position for next year to win a race. At the moment, in fact, I'm not convinced that I can compete with them in terms of race pace and because there were moments in the last race where Max was 8 tenths per lap faster than the others. But never say never. "
