Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he is happy with a “great” second-placed finish at 2022 French Grand Prix.
Hamilton enjoyed a strong launch from fourth to leap past Red Bull’s Sergio Perez into third which he held until Max Verstappen pitted on Lap 17, thus elevating him to second which briefly became the race lead once Charles Leclerc spun out a lap later.
Mercedes however chose to pit Hamilton at the end of that lap due to the Safety Car which cost him the lead to Verstappen by mere seconds, with the Dutchman ultimately sprinting away to a comfortable victory as Hamilton settled for a “great” comfortable second placed finish.
The seven-time champion though had missed FP1 on Friday due to a new rule this season requiring all drivers to miss a FP1 session, in order to enable teams to blood a young driver in opening practice sessions which meant that Nyck De Vries drove in his place.
As he reflected post-race on his second-placed finish compared to initial expectations, Hamilton commented: “I wasn’t expecting to fight for second place or a podium, so this is a wonderful result for us.”
Hamilton went on to applaud Mercedes for “amazing reliability” as he vowed that the Silver Arrows are capable of soon fighting for wins if they continue to improve “with dedication and focus,” in their development.
The Brit also noted that despite still lacking pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari, he was able to keep Perez at bay throughout the race which marks a small step forward.
George Russell meanwhile recovered from a sluggish start to snatch third from Perez with a late overtake on a Virtual Safety Car restart towards end of Lap 50, yet the 24 year-old praised Perez for producing a “strong” fight as Mercedes eventually claimed their first double podium of this season.
Russell also added that despite improved form, Mercedes need to work on single-lap pace consistency as he said: “We’re making a lot of progress and we really need to improve our qualifying performance as we’re lacking consistency.”
Russell also revealed that tyre warm-up is another issue affecting him amidst “reasonable” race pace and closer progress towards Red Bull and Ferrari up front.
On Mercedes’ developmental direction, Russell said: “We’re doing everything we can to improve the performance of the car and we believe we are on the right path, so we’re excited what the next races can bring for us.
“We’re making progress and there is still more to come, thanks to everyone back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth for their hard work and dedication.”
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