Lewis Hamilton opined that the 2024 season start was the worst of his career so far. Speaking to onsite media, the Briton felt that the season start this year was even worse than that of the 2009 season.
This year, the Mercedes cars have struggled against their rivals Ferrari and McLaren, who have made significant progress coming into 2024. In terms of pure pace, the German outfit are getting outpaced by both their customer teams McLaren and Aston Martin.
Lewis Hamilton started the Australian GP 11th on the grid. He was out-qualified by teammate George Russell for the fifth weekend in a row. During the race, a power unit failure after eight laps forced him to retire the car. Despite the short race run, the British champion felt that their car lacked pace in general.
Describing his weekend in short, Lewis Hamilton said:
“This is the worst season start of the season I’ve ever had.”
Asked if the 2024 season start was more difficult than the one in 2022 or 2023, he replied:
“Oh yeah, for sure. And it’s worse than 2009, I think.”
Reflecting upon his short race run, Lewis Hamilton added:
“I think it was fine. I had a new soft because I didn’t get to Q3 and undercut some of the drivers. The pace was okay. It was nothing special, but I was catching, I was slightly quicker than the cars ahead. And then obviously the engine failed.”
He added:
“Surprisingly, I feel pretty good. Really, I think I’m just trying to try to keep things in perspective. Could be so much worse.”
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