The last time Lewis Hamilton reached the top step of a Formula 1 podium, Max Verstappen had yet to win a Drivers’ Championship.
Could that change tomorrow?
Hamilton’s last victory came at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of that campaign. As readers likely know Verstappen went on to claim the win — and the 2021 Drivers’ Championship — in the following race, the still-debated 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Since then Hamilton and Mercedes have struggled to return to form, but recent upgrades by the team to their 2024 challenger, the W15, have improved performance on the track. Now Mercedes is coming off their best weekend of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix. Saturday in Barcelona Hamilton delivered his best qualifying performance of the year, finishing third behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
Following the session, Hamilton made it clear: He is “focused” on fighting for a win.
“I am going into tomorrow focused on trying to fight for the win. We are in a good starting spot with that long run down to turn one,” said Hamilton in the team’s post-qualifying report. “Degradation will also play a key role tomorrow and I think our long runs in practice looked strong in that respect. I hope that translates into Sunday and we can have a good afternoon.”
Hamilton will not be the only Mercedes on the second row Sunday, as teammate George Russell qualified right behind Hamilton in fourth. On the other side of the garage, Russell also believes the team can fight at the front.
“On a circuit like this, the ultimate race pace of a car will always win out. I think our race pace looked good throughout the weekend so far and I hope we can fight for the podium and potentially victory,” said Russell. “The recent steps we’ve taken with the car are clearly helping and we’re looking forward to building on that momentum.”
It will be interesting to see how Mercedes handles the strategy options on Sunday. While both Norris and Verstappen are starting in front of the Silver Arrows pair, having both Russell and Hamilton in the second row gives Mercedes some options. Do they go with a split-tire strategy, or will we see both Hamilton and Russell on the same compound to begin the Spanish Grand Prix?
Hamilton hinted at some strategy options available to the team in Saturday’s FIA Press Conference.
“I think these two [Norris and Verstappen] will be very quick, but position is everything … You know, also there’s two of us, so hopefully we can apply pressure as a team to both of the cars ahead in order to maybe play out something in strategy and slowly climb up,” said Hamilton. “I think it’s all about degradation tomorrow and how you look after the [tires], so we won’t know until we get into that first run.”
Mercedes enters Sunday’s race in the strongest starting position of the season. Can they turn that into their best day of the F1 campaign?
We will know soon enough.