Trailing 7-1 behind George Russell in qualifying and attributing this to Russell having Mercedes’ new front wing in Monaco, Jamie Chadwick believes Lewis Hamilton is framing the situation to his advantage.
Coming to Monaco with a 6-1 deficit in the Mercedes intra-team qualifying battle, Lewis Hamilton explained his latest defeat to Russell by pointing out that Russell had the upgraded front wing in Monte Carlo.
Lewis Hamilton anticipates a challenging 2024 qualifying season against George Russell
Qualifying P7, just 0.08 seconds behind Russell’s P5, Hamilton remarked, “I expected it to be tough to outqualify George since he has the upgraded component, but it’s encouraging to see our team bringing upgrades.
“I know right away I’m going to lose two-tenths in qualifying. That’s certainly frustrating.”
Hamilton went on to say he doesn’t foresee outqualifying George this year, responding with a “we’ll see” when asked further about this claim.
However, instead of reading too much into Hamilton’s comments, Williams development driver Jamie Chadwick thinks Hamilton is shaping the narrative to his benefit.
“I believe he knows exactly what he’s doing,” Chadwick told Channel 4. “He’s presenting it as if he didn’t get the upgrades this weekend, which I’m skeptical about because a team like Mercedes typically brings upgrades for both cars.
“They usually don’t need to split components between the two cars.
“So yes, he should give credit to George. Being 7-1 against someone like Lewis Hamilton is incredible.
“And I think Lewis is probably not happy about that, which is likely why he made that comment.”
The 2024 team-mate battles in numbers
👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates
👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Contrary to some reports, Hamilton did not have the upgraded front wing in Monaco. One report suggested the drivers flipped a coin to decide who would use it, while Jenson Button noted that Hamilton chose not to use it as damaging the wing in qualifying would have meant starting from the pit lane with an older spec wing.
Chadwick thinks Hamilton should get accustomed to being second in line for new Mercedes parts.
“He’s likely to leave next year,” she added, “while George is expected to stay in that seat for a long time, so they need to keep George satisfied.
“This might make Lewis unhappy, but he’s done an exceptional job, outperforming him.”
Ahead of Hamilton in both qualifying and race statistics, Russell also leads his teammate in the Drivers’ standings with 54 points to Hamilton’s 42.
