Lewis Hamilton admitted on Sunday night he was “so happy” to be getting out of Saudi Arabia after a horror weekend for the sport and for him personally.
Mercedes’ seven-time world champion suffered his worst qualifying performance for 13 years on Saturday, failing to make it out of Q1. And while he battled back in Sunday’s race, rising from 15th on the grid to sixth at one point, the deployment of a late safety car hindered him, sending him back down the field.
Hamilton eventually finished 10th, dropping to fifth in the drivers’ championship, 29 points behind Ferrari’s early leader Charles Leclerc.
Asked about his title prospects at this early stage of the season, Hamilton was dismissive.
“Right now we’re not fighting for the top step,” he said. “We’re so far off the guys up ahead. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We need more grip and we need more power.”
Hamilton did say that one positive to come out of the race was the fact that his W13 did not suffer any ‘porpoising’ – bouncing up and down at high speed – which has been a feature of Mercedes’ start to the season.
But he said Mercedes were so far behind Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of performance it was of little consolation. “We’re still really down on the speed trace,” he said. “I don’t know what it is. It’s not just one fix. There are several things. I don’t know how much drag we have relative to the others but it feels like a lot. It [the title race] feels like a long way away.”
Asked whether he was relieved the weekend was over, given the terror attack on a nearby oil refinery on Friday which nearly resulted in a driver boycott, Hamilton did not hide his feelings. “I’m so happy the weekend’s done,” said the 37 year-old who is understood to have been one of the most vocal dissenting voices.
“I’m also so happy that everyone is safe. I’m looking forward to going home. I just want to go home.”
Discussions are expected to take place with teams and drivers over the coming weeks with regard to the future of the race, which began a 15-year deal last season worth around £50m per year to the sport.
Formula 1 is expected to share more details with teams about exactly what measures were in place to secure the event and what more could be done in the future, in an effort to reassure them.
And most drivers and team principals were toeing the party line on Sunday night. “There are a lot of lessons which have been learnt from this weekend,” Red Bull principal Christian Horner said. “As a collective Formula 1 needs to sit down and discuss what we’ve learnt.”
Asked whether the sport would be back next year, Horner added: “That’s a question for Stefano [Domenicali, F1 CEO] and the FIA.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, meanwhile, said he felt the sport had had a positive effect on the country.
“I have been here for five years,” he said. “I have seen change. But there is so much more to do. I mean a lot.”
