Lewis Hamilton warned Mercedes that they should not go too far in response to the theoretical advantage that Ferrari would have after the 2019 winter F1 tests.
The 2019 winter tests have left most thinkers in the lead-up to the fact that Ferrari, with the SF90, had the fastest single-seater on the road waiting for the first Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne.
Hamilton said the Italian team had an advantage of up to half a second on Mercedes. These remarks were of course not confirmed by Scuderoa boss Mattia Binotto, who preferred to be cautious.
“It makes things difficult, certainly. I think last year we were already behind in terms of performance so we had to outperform in terms of results, and now we have to go even further, which means that we have to extract even more performance.” Hamilton said.
“But we also have to be careful in this scenario because it can also push you too far and you can make mistakes, we have the best team around us, we have experience, it’s not a problem.
“Coincidentally if we are world champions so we have to be applied and stay balanced, but as a driver, of course I have to figure out how to do better, for which I do not have an answer right now.” Hamilton added.
By the end of day eight at Barcelona, Ferrari’s optimism had been entirely justified and they must be considered favourites going into the first race in Melbourne on 17 March.
Ferrari’s optimism was justified, with their SF90 handling with ease. (Source:www.motorsport.com)
“Obviously, during the year, you have a huge group of people working to win the World Championship and if you do not seem to be able to win, you can release some of the team earlier.” Hamilton said.
“They may have started developing this car at least a month before us, while we were redoubling our efforts to win the world title, which we did.
“It’s usually like that, you have a certain amount of resources that you can use, and you want to make sure that you win the current World Championship or you lower the sails and you make sure that the next year is But you do not know if the next year will be because the rules are changing, so you have to find a balance.” the Brit added.
