(Motorsports news) At Monza, where Ferrari was clearly in the lead and the W14 was the third-fastest car, Mercedes had yet another challenging weekend. In the end, George Russell and Hamilton placed fifth and sixth, clearly having a top-speed disadvantage. Recent challenging qualifying sessions have made Hamilton’s life more difficult; the seven-time champion only started 13th at Zandvoort and eighth at Monza.

While he has advanced up the rankings on both times and scored respectable points, his team has not been outpacing pacesetter Red Bull. For me, races are quite simple,” he declared. “I only need to perform better in qualifying, so today isn’t too challenging. “And simply getting by with the car we have right now. The third fastest car on the road today is clearly painful for all of us.

We wish we were more swift. However, we are only tallying the days until February. In Monza, Hamilton chose an offset starting tyre strategy for the second straight race. Only three other drivers used hard tires. He was overheard questioning the decision when the mediums were forced to stop on lap 27, as he had anticipated continuing for an additional eight laps.

At one point, he said, “Now we’re screwed, I don’t know how these tyres are going to last.” He also made it plain that he had worries about getting his mediums to the flag without another stop. In the end, he did an excellent job of controlling the tyres and pushed his way past Alex Albon, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Fernando Alonso on route to a top-six finish.

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