Mercedes have revealed Lewis Hamilton “outperformed” all of their pre-race simulations to complete second on the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Hamilton put in a storming drive from tenth on the grid to complete second, simply behind Mercedes teammate George Russell.
The seven-time world champion arguably had the perfect race tempo on the grid in Sunday’s race, leaving him to rue one other poor qualifying show.
Hamilton appeared a robust contender for pole place, however two errors in Q3 left him down in tenth on the grid.
He sliced by way of the sector earlier than lowering Russell’s result in round seven seconds by the tip of the race.
Mercedes trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin believes Hamilton getting caught behind the Ferraris value him an opportunity of difficult Russell for the win in Las Vegas.
“We did not come to Las Vegas pondering that this observe would go well with us, so it has been nice to see the automotive working so effectively,” Shovlin stated. “We have been fast from lap considered one of follow on Thursday. We knew from these periods that the one lap could be robust, however it was very encouraging to see the race tempo immediately.
“George did a tremendous job managing from the entrance, masking off security automotive dangers and ensuring he stored his tyres in higher form than the vehicles behind. It was one other well-deserved win and the third of his F1 profession. Lewis in the meantime outperformed all our simulations immediately to realize P2.
“His closing stint was immense; he’ll be pissed off that he misplaced an excessive amount of time in site visitors to permit him to struggle for the win however the 1-2 is in fact an awesome outcome for the crew. We now have two races to go within the season.
“We will likely be giving it all the pieces we are able to to realize comparable success in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.”
Las Vegas was Mercedes’ first 1-2 end of the marketing campaign.
It was their fourth victory of the 12 months – only one lower than McLaren (5) and Ferrari (5).
