“50% of Mercedes and still faster” – Lewis Hamilton Baffled By Fernando Alonso’s Incredible Pace

Lewis Hamilton would have wished for a better start to the 2023 season. Coming off a winless 2022 campaign, the racer had his hopes on the Mercedes W14 to deliver him the required performances to contend for the title.

But Mercedes has not met their expectations for another year. What went worse for Lewis was when his former teammate turned rival, Fernando Alonso overtook him with ease during the Bahrain GP.

Alonso, in his maiden race with Aston Martin, had more pace than the Mercedes. And the Spaniard managed to overtake the 7-time World Champion with ease on Lap 40.

 

The Briton finished the race P5. But he is concerned about how a customer team has managed to leave the 8-time Constructors Champions behind.

Also Read: Mercedes Reveal Why They Didn’t Listen to Lewis Hamilton- And It’s All Because of Fernando Alonso

Lewis Hamilton lauds Aston Martin’s development

Lewis Hamilton was amongst the many who were stunned by Aston Martin’s blazing speed during the Bahrain GP. Fernando Alonso managed to hold back the Ferrari and Mercedes to finish the race P3.

The performance proved Aston Martin has taken huge strides whilst developing the AMR23. Not just speed-wise, but the car was handling better and was better at managing tyres.

But funnily, the Silverstone-based team are customers of Mercedes. Aston Martin buys Power Units and Parts from the Silver Arrows and uses Mercedes’s Wind Tunnel to test their cars.

Hamilton finds the team’s work commendable but voiced concern for his own team. He said, “Fernando did a great job, it’s amazing to see. And to all the Aston Martin team, they did such an amazing job.”

The Briton added, “But we’ve got work to do because half of their car is ours. They build their car and do their aero in our wind tunnel, so we’ve got work to do.”

Also Read:Lewis Hamilton Should Have Given Up Fight Against Fernando Alonso Claims Mercedes Chief

Lewis finds positives in P5 finish

Lewis Hamilton shared a warm message to the team after finishing the race P5. The driver encouraged everyone to keep pushing and working hard with a wholesome message.

The result might have not impressed the Briton, but he did find some positives from the Bahrain GP. He said, “It was a fun race, just that I wasn’t fast enough. So I’m happy that it went smooth sailing.”

The Mercedes driver believes he had a good start to the race, But as the race progressed it became clear that the W14 lacked handling and speed.

He added, “It felt like one of my better opening laps. But then I just kept sliding around. I couldn’t turn, I had so much understeer at the beginning. I couldn’t get around some of the corners and keep up with the guys in front”

The 7-time World Champion believes Red Bull has the fastest car on the grid with Ferrari being 2nd. And maybe the Aston Martin’s are faster than Mercedes this season.

Also Read: Lewis Hamilton Tipped to Leave Mercedes for Ferrari After Bahrain GP