Lewis Hamilton admitted Mercedes is a million miles away from fighting for victories after his retirement from the Australian Grand Prix condemned him to his worst start to a Formula One season.
The seven-time world champion has eight points after three races, even worse than the meager 14 points he achieved at the start of the 2009 season.
Hamilton’s race was run here when an engine failure ended any hope of finishing, and saw his soon-to-be new team Ferrari record a one-two with Carlos Sainz, the man he will replace in the team next season. taking victory.
Hamilton is trying not to get too down about things and then tried to emphasize that he feels “pretty good” even in the face of history-making adversity for him.
“I mean, this is the worst start to a season I’ve ever had,” he said.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is officially enduring his worst start to a Formula One season
The seven-time world champion was forced to retire due to engine failure before 20 laps.
When asked if it had been “even worse than the last two”, he replied: “Oh yeah, sure.” And I think it is worse than 2009.”
“Surprisingly,” he continued, “I feel pretty good.” I’m trying to keep things in perspective, you know, this could be a lot worse.
‘I’m really grateful. I really enjoyed my time here in Australia, I still enjoy working with a team.
‘Of course, I would love to fight for victories and finish races.
“It’s never a great feeling when you get here and you don’t even see half of the race, but what I know is that we will recover, we will get there eventually, we just have to keep improving.” .’
It was a day that went from bad to worse for Mercedes when Hamilton’s running mate George Russell retired on the final lap following an accident.
Speaking to the media at Albert Park, Hamilton admitted that such poor results are demoralizing for everyone involved in the Mercedes team.
“I think it’s hard on the spirit,” Hamilton said.
“I think for everyone on the team, when there is so much work during the winter for everyone, you come in excited, motivated and motivated, and then you have the mentality that you are going to fight for wins.”
And so, obviously, that’s not the case. And then you say, ‘Okay, maybe second, third.’ No, it is not the case and it falls a little lower. And you just go through the motions. It’s challenging.
Mercedes’ problems continued when George Russell managed a final lap DNF after hitting the barrier.
His car was in poor condition while chasing Fernando Alonso at the Australian Grand Prix
‘But I continue to be inspired by the people I have worked with. “They continue to put in the effort and show up, and that’s the most important thing.”
The Briton added: “I think it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and focus on one thing, but the bigger picture is definitely the focus of the moment, and also realizing that you can’t control everything.”
“It’s like if you get frustrated because you’re not in control, you can just go with the flow and just be in the moment and that’s really… it’s not great, I’m not happy, but I’m going to have a great day tomorrow.”
A Mercedes spokesperson confirmed that it was a power unit failure that caused Hamilton’s early retirement before the 20-lap mark.
Now the focus is on the next Japanese race, where they will look to finally start their season.