Lewis Hamilton says he will “roll the dice” at the Formula 1 Singapore GP this weekend as he has doubts about the competitiveness of his Mercedes W15.
Hamilton believes that the car is not well suited to street tracks, and that Ferrari will be on strong form after showing so well in Baku.
The former World Champion has had three difficult weekends since winning at Spa prior to the summer break.
The team has been swapping back and forth between its old and new floor specs, with the older version again in use this weekend.
“Similar to the past races probably,” he said when asked about his prospects. “It’s not been great for some time. I don’t know. I’m just going to roll the dice and see how it goes.
“I wouldn’t say this has ever been a really great track for me, it’s been a bit of a bogey track, I would say for us in general.
“I think just the way we design cars, or we have designed cars, if you look at a lot of street circuits we’ve never been particularly strong at, whereas the more open circuits we would be better at.
“So look at us compared to Ferrari, for example. They were mega at Monaco, mega in the last race, they’ll be strong this weekend, just a certain design that they have that seems to bode well for those circuits.
“And then when we get to somewhere like Silverstone, we’re very, very strong. So I think there’s lots of good lessons to take from those, but ultimately, when it comes to track like this, it’s a struggle.”
Asked what had changed in the car since his Spa in Hamilton suggested that it was more a case of rivals improving.
“I don’t think it has changed. I think the others have gained,” he said. “We haven’t brought enough. We’ve brought an upgrade to Spa, but then we didn’t end up using it. And then I think the others from Zandvoort to Monza have brought upgrades, particularly Ferrari. And I think McLaren have as well.
“So we’re waiting for ours in a couple of races. McLaren seemed to be the ones that are evolving and advancing the fastest, if you look at their impressive wing. We just have to kind of wait and see, and do the best with what we have.”
Hamilton made some interesting observations about how hard it is to drive the W15 on the limit.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and honestly I don’t think it’s necessarily that I’m not being able to access it,” he said. “It’s just the envelope that we have is much more on a knife-edge.
“You’ll be in the braking zone, and the rear is out of the window, and then all of a sudden mid-corner, or before the apex, it’s in the window, and then it’s out of the window again.
“And I think it’s the aero characteristics are shifting every week. So from having a bigger wing to smaller beam wing to having the bigger beam wing to having the front wings that are flexing, rear wings that are flexing – it’s such a competitive and really challenging time I think for the aerodynamicists and for simulations, to have them make sure they correlate each weekend.
“I think it’s been probably one of the most challenging times at least for I know for my engineers. It’s been a very, very challenging time to try and get this car in the perfect window.
“When we were in Spa, we had no understanding, but all of a sudden we were quickest. We’re hoping that that comes back to ourselves on stage.”