Lewis Hamilton secured a brilliant P2 finish in the China Sprint, converting his excellent efforts in the Friday shootout. For a W15 machine that has struggled in 2024, this result was an important boost for the 7-time Champion. Hamilton also led several laps, further adding to the team’s moral victory heading into Saturday’s qualifying. However, this optimism was soon met with a disappointing P18 result in Q1.
This weekend has given Mercedes a combination of positive and negative signs. On the one hand, the team’s performance prior to qualifying was encouraging. Unfortunately for the Brackley-based team, taking away circumstantial factors like rain puts them back in their natural position.
Even George Russell, who progressed safely into Q3, was largely a non-factor. Fernando Alonso, both Ferrari and McLaren machines posted better times than the British driver in qualifying. Excluding another drop-off in race pace for the AMR24 (or retirements from the front-runners), there could be slim pickings for Mercedes.
Returning to Hamilton, a mistake in turn 15 cost him over half a second – which would have put him comfortably into the next part of qualifying. Speaking post-session, he explained that Mercedes took very different set-up approaches:
“This morning, George and I had very similar cars,” he told Sky Sports.
“But then, this afternoon, we’re still trying to experiment with the car. So I went one way, a long way, and he went another way.
“Just to see if we can find anything. And that’s what we need to do at the moment.
“But, yeah, it didn’t work. I’ll give it my best shot – eighteenth is pretty bad. When I was making the set-up changes, I was like – ‘it can’t get any worse, surely!’ And it did.”
Excluding his error, Hamilton was still showing strong pace. His first two sectors put him well within striking range of setting a top 5 time in Q1. Still, it is clear there is work to do for Toto Wolff’s team.
Perhaps a small positive they can take it – at least this weekend – neither Ferrari nor McLaren have shone. Fine margins can put the Silver Arrows in a better position going forward.
With that said, there is still a long road for Mercedes to even come close to challenging Red Bull.
