Lewis Hamilton had hoped his revamped Mercedes would have propelled him nearer to the entrance after he completed sixth in observe for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s Mercedes crew arrived for the sixth spherical of the season within the sun-cooked principality armed with a serious improve.
However after an encouraging begin – with Hamilton briefly heading the order within the opening working of the weekend – the British driver ended the day half-a-second behind Max Verstappen, who completed quickest for Crimson Bull. George Russell was solely twelfth within the different Mercedes.
“It’s a disgrace we weren’t as shut as I hoped we’d be on the finish of the session,” stated Hamilton.
“In P1, I assumed, ‘Wow, perhaps we’re wanting fairly good’, however in P2 we had been near half-a-second off. I don’t assume we have now half a second within the bag.
“We’ve simply obtained to maintain chipping away to see if we will squeeze any extra juice out of the cup.”
After giving up on this season’s automobile on the eve of the opening race in Bahrain, Mercedes have spent the following dozen weeks engaged on a brand new design philosophy.
The Silver Arrows have deserted their controversial zero-sidepod idea and launched a brand new entrance suspension, new ground and cooling system in a drastic change of improvement on a automobile which has contributed to the longest dropping streak of Hamilton’s profession.
On Sunday, it will likely be 539 days since Hamilton final stood on the highest step of the rostrum on the penultimate spherical of the contentious 2021 season in Saudi Arabia.
And though Mercedes are eager not to attract too many conclusions at this week’s distinctive Monte Carlo configuration – and imagine the next spherical on the well-trodden Circuit de Catalunya venue on the outskirts of Barcelona will current them with a greater understanding of the place they stand – the proof of observe suggests they’re no nearer to offering an actual problem to Crimson Bull.
Hamilton added: “It’s probably not the place to check an improve, however the automobile was typically feeling good.
“It’s very clear the place the shortage of efficiency is, and we’ll speak about that within the debrief. Hopefully this offers us a platform to construct on transferring forwards.”
Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez are the one males to have gained a race this yr, however their fast Crimson Bull is just not essentially suited to the slender and slow-speed monitor in Monaco.
Nonetheless, regardless of Perez managing solely seventh in observe, Verstappen’s tempo signifies he may nonetheless be the motive force to beat.
House favorite Charles Leclerc is able to pounce – after he completed simply 0.065 seconds again – along with his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, who crashed out of second observe remaining following a mistake on the high-speed swimming pool chicane, third.
Fernando Alonso could possibly be a contender, too. The Aston Martin driver, 41, took fourth spot, 0.220 sec adrift of Verstappen. Lando Norris completed fifth in his McLaren.