"It seems to be a bit of a diva to get it into the right window," says Toto Wolff of troublesome Mercedes car; Hamilton set to start 13th in Monaco
Monday 29 May 2017 08:26, UK
A recurrence of Lewis Hamilton's tyre problems from Sochi have left Mercedes with a fresh round of head-scratching after he endured a nightmare Monaco GP qualifying session.
The Englishman admits he now has to take "well-weighed risks" in Sunday's race to salvage a strong result from 13th on the grid.
On the circuit long regarded as the hardest on which to overtake in F1, Hamilton will start from the middle of the pack and facing the prospect of losing ground to championship leader Sebastian Vettel, who qualified second as part of an all-Ferrari front row. The Englishman trails his German rival by six points.
At the Russian GP last month, Hamilton finished half-a-minute behind race-winning team-mate Valtteri Bottas after weekend-long tyre temperature problems. In Monaco on Saturday, the Englishman was again cut adrift of Bottas, who qualified third, with his woes compounded by late Q2 yellow flags which cost him a possible place in the top 10.
Hamilton set to start 13th in Monaco GP
Hamilton, who twice nearly hit the barriers, says inconsistent tyre temperatures have held him back.
"A lot of analysis will go into understanding it, but it is a tyre issue," he told reporters. "I didn't get the grip from the tyres and it kind of transcended from P2. I never got them working as they did in P1 from then on.
"We have to try and get to the bottom of it, but we had a similar problem in Sochi - particularly on my side - but I hope we can discover the issue moving forwards."
Hamilton added: "It's a very, very strange thing because I did the same thing I always do when I leave the garage and the same thing as I did in P1, but it's actually a case of it going in and out, in and out through the lap.
"Mostly being under - and it's not even just the fronts or the rears. It can be one tyre and then another tyre, but in general just all tyres were not in the window."
Mercedes W08 is a 'diva'
Despite winning three of the season's opening five races, Mercedes have found their 2017 car more difficult to set-up than its dominant title-winning predecessors.
"You can say there's a certain DNA in our car," said team boss Toto Wolff. "I think we've proved our car can go very quick in qualifying and the race but it seems to be a bit of a diva to get it into the right window.
"It's probably marginal differences that make it drop out of the window and we just need to get on top of this. We have a great team that has shown in the past their strength is in analysing the data and finding out how to put it on the track on Friday and then develop it into the weekend.
"This is one of the outliers we've had in the past. We've had it in Singapore for different reasons but this is another one. It's the second weekend that comes into my mind after three or four years, where we have struggled really badly from the get-go from P2 with set-up."
Hamilton said his W08 was set-up in the same way as Bottas' and, although he does not believe he is doing anything specifically wrong, he is ready to help the team overcome the problems with his car.
"We have to work on it together," he said. "I don't drive the car badly, and I'm not slow here, so I'll work together collectively with the team to understand.
"I asked them just now in the meetings 'are there things I can do differently? Let me know'. They'll cross-examine both cars to see if there's anything different."
Risk and reward for Hamilton on Sunday?
While the Monaco GP is famed for its glamour and stunning Mediterranean backdrop, its iconic street circuit is notoriously difficult for drivers to overtake on. Eddie Irvine in a rain-hit 1997 race was the last driver to finish on the podium when starting outside the top 10.
Hamilton, who has only twice started outside the top five before, admitted he was initially "devastated" about his Q2 exit as it normally means "weekend's done".
But, armed with strategy help from Mercedes he described as the "best in the paddock", he now hopes Bottas can overcome the impressive Ferraris while he plots a way back into the points.
"I hope that Valtteri can win the race and somehow get ahead of the Ferraris because that would be great for the team and we want to beat them in the constructors'," said Hamilton.
"It's also disappointing for me because it's not going to be so easy for him to back him up and score those points for the team. And I feel that for the team.
"But we stand together, we win and lose as a team, and I'm going to try everything I can to get up as high as possible. It's very hard to overtake, probably we'll have to take some risks, but as always they will be weighed up. Well-weighed risks."
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