Lewis Hamilton claims Spanish GP podium needs to be taken with ‘pinch of salt’

Lewis Hamilton claimed his first podium of the 2024 season in Spain.

Lewis Hamilton claims Spanish GP podium needs to be taken with ‘pinch of salt’

Lewis Hamilton (Via: Imago)

Mercedes started the 2024 season with an underwhelming pace. The season’s highlight was a P5 finish by George Russell in the season opener in the early stages. However, with a major upgrade to the W15, the Mercedes’ carriage seems to be back on track as the team has secured two podiums in a row, but Lewis Hamilton thinks otherwise.

Lewis Hamilton was trailing his teammate in both qualifying and races initially. George Russell appeared as the lead car in the intra-team rivalry as Mercedes battled the W15’s design flaws. However, things took a turn for good for the German marque, as the team found untapped performance and the young Brit claimed pole in Canada.

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The string of impressive results did not stop as Hamilton claimed his maiden podium of the season in Spain last weekend.

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We're slowly getting closer. Last year we were very fast here, so you have to take it with a pinch of salt, but obviously the last couple of races we've also been relatively competitive. I think we have closed the gap a little bit but we still have a good couple of tenths to try and find. So we just got to have all hands on deck and keep pushing.
Lewis Hamilton said in an interview with RacingNews365

The 39-year-old then asserted that Mercedes was slowly catching up to the lead pack. However, he drew comparisons from last year as the team was fast with the W15’s predecessor in Spain, thus he claimed to take these results with a pinch of salt, however, he reckoned that they have gotten closer to Red Bull from the start of the year.

Will Mercedes continue its progress after Lewis Hamilton’s podium in Spain?

After a delightful P3 and P4 finish in Spain, the Silver Arrows seemed to get back in the groove. Moreover, Mercedes’ fans would be hoping for this momentum to continue in the upcoming rounds. A similar stance was shared by the team’s trackside director, who claimed the upgrades to be making a difference in the destiny of Mercedes’ season.

Andrew Shovlin and Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes W15 (Via: Imago)
Andrew Shovlin and Mercedes W15 (Via: Imago)

Andrew Shovlin explained the intricacies of Spielberg (Red Bull Ring).

Austria is a tricky circuit, and it’s a sprint race. With a sprint race you’ve got an hour to get the car sorted out and set up. Now, the recent changes we’ve made to the car, it’s an easier thing to work with. The drivers have been much happier with the start setups, we’ve had to make less changes. So hopefully that will put us in a good place to start the weekend.
Andrew Shovlin ahead of Austrian GP

Shovlin elaborated that the next weekend in Austria is a sprint weekend. The sprint weekend acts as a spanner in the works, as teams only have one session to set up the car. Thus, increasing the workload by 10-fold.

Despite the concerns, the Englishman reckoned that with the new set of upgrades on the car, they have a larger working window. This would help the Brackley-based squad set up the W15 quickly and catch their rivals off-guard.

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