Right at the cusp of the Italian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was expecting a podium finish from Mercedes given how they had recovered in the Netherlands. Speaking to the press after a poor qualifying run on Saturday, Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin killed any anticipations of seeing the team on the podium come Sunday.
The seven-time world champion was exuding confidence after he came from P13 to finish the Zandvoort race in P6. This boosted him up for the upcoming race at Autodromo Nazionale Monza and this was the reason why the British driver was full of hope.
Working late. 🌙 pic.twitter.com/QoVhT7yt4u
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 2, 2023
Now, with the underwhelming performance on Saturday’s qualification, Mercedes and Hamilton will hardly get to have the upward chase against the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull duo.
Expectations are low for Lewis Hamilton at Monza
Mercedes’ trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin has recently opened up on why the Silver Arrows will not be a match for the podium at Monza. Saying this, he mentioned how the track does not suit the W14, and all this took place just four days after Hamilton put his hope.
George and Lewis will start the #ItalianGP from P4 and P8. Time to get stuck in and give ourselves the best chance of moving forward tomorrow. 👊 pic.twitter.com/QnO8Ce95Sv
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 2, 2023
He said, “This track doesn’t suit our car particularly well so a podium is a stretch target but we’ll be looking for any opportunity to move both forward.” Following this, he added that he is expecting a big race on Sunday where the tire management and strategy will play a big part.
Hamilton’s hope for a podium took a bigger hit after Alex Albon from Williams leapfrogged them on Saturday at the qualification.
Williams got the better of Mercedes at Monza
Williams is often considered as the Mercedes junior team or second Mercedes team. Now it seems that the junior team has the upper hand over Mercedes through Albon.
Albon’s mighty performance on Saturday saw him qualify in P6, whereas Lewis Hamilton qualified in P8. Even though George Russell will start from P4, there are high chances that the Williams driver will get the better of him as the latter has superior straight-line speed.
Admittedly, this was one weekend that Alex Albon and Williams were waiting for a long time. As Monza provides a high-speed track, and no wonder why it is called the temple of speed. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how Albon performs against the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell.
