If you’re wondering why Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the pace to match his teammate, Nico Rosberg, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend, that makes two of you. Lewis himself is stumped as to why he hasn’t had the pace to fend off his teammate in 5 of the last 6 races nor does he have the answer on how to fix it.
In a post-race interview on NBC Sports, Lewis seemed glassy-eyed and flummoxed. In fact, he seemed like the Lewis of 2011 with a forlorn look on his face and a comprehensively beaten vibe to his words. The last time we saw this look and dumbfounded attitude, he’d had a rough time with his personal life and this year saw the return of those difficult issues.
Lewis told Sky Sport F1:
“Clearly, with Nico’s result the car is better than what I’m able to bring home with it, so I just want the guys back home to know that I’ll keep pushing,”
Nico must be enjoying his performance over the highly rated Hamilton as many expected Rosberg to be blown into the weeds. As we’ve mentioned before, perhaps Schumacher wasn’t struggling as much as we first thought rather Rosberg is the real deal and giving everyone a run for their money.
Hamilton explained:
“My race just didn’t quite come together and I’m not really sure why as I gave it my all out there. I had some problems with grip and, of course, it’s so difficult to overtake here when you are in traffic but we also need to figure out why I’m not getting the maximum performance from the car at the moment.”
When NBC Sports interviewed Hamilton, Will Buxton asked what he thought the team needed to do to help get his form back and he said he had no idea, if he did, they would have already done it. In short, Hamilton is in one of his, “I’m terrible and it’s all my fault” moods again telling AUTOSPORT:
“Even if I wasn’t in traffic I wasn’t fast enough in Abu Dhabi,” he said.
“Even if I was ahead I would have been overtaken, I just wasn’t good overall.
“It was like I had another 50kg in the car, I was just too slow. Just no pace.”
Maybe that additional 50kg is his forlorn, distracted mental attitude? Winning in F1 takes a singular focus. Sebastian Vettel is a multiple champion because he has that laser focus. Hamilton’s idol, Ayrton Senna, had it. So did Michael Schumacher. hamilton doesn’t and that’s why he’s too slow at the moment. When he does get it, he’s as fast as anyone alive.
