Lewis Hamilton has been outperformed by his teammate at Mercedes in the ongoing 2024 F1 season. Hamilton and George Russell entered the season with high hopes but have faced difficulties, particularly during the Bahrain race and now the Saudi Arabian GP weekend.
During the FP1 and FP2 sessions, Hamilton struggled significantly. His teammate, Russell, set a much faster pace in the other Mercedes W15 car. Surprisingly, Russell finished in second place in the FP2 session, despite claiming that the Mercedes 2024 car was designed around Hamilton, the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton, despite his efforts, could only manage an eighth-place finish. In interviews after the FP2 session, he admitted to struggling with Mercedes’s 2024 car, particularly with the rear end while driving at high speeds on the Jeddah track.
Although Hamilton has faced difficulties on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, there are still two days of running left in the Saudi Arabian GP. The qualifying session today holds great importance for securing a favorable track position in the 50-lap race. Historically, the front runners have had the most success in the Jeddah event. Therefore, the upcoming FP3 session will be crucial for Hamilton to improve his performance.
“We need to keep on building on our learnings and everyone will be hard at work overnight to eke out more performance.” George, Lewis, and Shov summarize our Thursday in Jeddah.
This is Hamilton’s last opportunity before qualifying to fine-tune the setup of his W15 car and address the issues he has faced so far. While Red Bull, Aston Martin, and Ferrari have shown strength in Saudi, the Mercedes car, driven by George Russell, has also performed well. Given these factors, many will be closely watching Hamilton’s W15 during the upcoming FP3 and qualifying sessions.