Lewis Hamilton finished P6 in the F1 Spanish GP after a really tough day for the Scuderia Ferrari driver.
Qualifying had been encouraging for him as the 105-time race winner put his car in the third row in P5, ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari had a perfect first lap as the seven-time World Champion and his teammate Charles Leclerc passed George Russell to sit P4 and P5 respectively. The Monegasque driver also cleared Antonelli.
From there on, however, it all went downhill for Lewis Hamilton in the F1 Spanish GP. His teammate Charles Leclerc was quickly putting a lot of pressure on him and was consistently inside his DRS. Ferrari decided to swap the cars on lap 9 as the Brit was losing almost a second a lap to the cars in front.
Once Charles Leclerc got clean air he quickly started to pull away, holding a gap of over 10s before the final stops began. At this point both cars were now managing issues as they switched to mediums and softs respectively, although Fred Vasseur did not want to go into details post-race. However, it does seem to be related to plank wear concerns.
As Hamilton had been undercut by Russell before the second run of stops pre-Safety Car, he looked set for a lonely run to P6.
The Safety Car brought everyone back together. It allowed Nico Hülkenberg to pass the Brit on the penultimate lap with DRS into turn 1 as the Sauber driver took P5. Hamilton had to settle for P6 once Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty.
Lewis Hamilton gives very short answers in the F1 Spanish GP print media pen
Questioned why he could keep a good pace towards the end of the second stint as he closed on Leclerc a small bit, Hamilton was focused on his whole day and the struggles faced.
“I have no idea why it was so bad.”
Asked if he knew the causes as to why it was such a struggle considering his vast experience of racing F1 cars for nearly two decades now, Hamilton could only say it was the worst balance he’s ever felt in a car since his debut at the 2007 Australian GP.
“Worst race I’ve experienced, balance-wise.”
The 40-year was then asked if he took any positives from the weekend, to which he said, “zero”.
Following the Spanish GP Lewis Hamilton remains 6th in the F1 Drivers’ Championship, 23 points behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
