Mercedes explains Hamilton's qualifying struggles: 'Those things cost you'

After the Singapore Grand Prix, we expected to see an upbeat Lewis Hamilton after he earned his fifth podium of 2023 with a 3rd in Singapore.

However, we got the opposite. The British driver came out and spoke to the media about his own missed opportunities, saying that he needed to change his driving style during qualifying sessions to minimise his mistakes.

Shovlin believes it is 'hard to get through Q1 and Q2... if you don't get the right balance'

During Friday's press conference, Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin was asked about Hamilton's Saturday struggles since coming back from the summer break but insisted that the seven-time world champion has been performing well for the German team.

"He [Hamilton] always performs on a Sunday," started Shovlin, "And that's been brilliant because he's always been able to bring home decent points for us. The car is a bit fiddly at times. If you don't get it right in the window, you can end up struggling through the session."

"The other thing that makes it difficult is that it’s so hard to get through Q1 and Q2 these days. A few years ago, we'd just do one lap in the middle of the session. It would put you through completely safe. Sometimes you'll go through two sessions on one set of tyres. If you don't get the right balance, if you get a bit of traffic, if you can't do the right out-lap, all of those things cost you."

Mercedes very happy with Hamilton's race pace 

Hamilton rectified his poor qualifying performance in Singapore with a well-driven race, guiding him to P3, and that is something Shovlin was keen to point out.

"The race pace has been good," Shovlin concluded. "It says that the car is broadly where you need it to be. But understanding the tyres when you're under pressure and when you've got to make sure you get the lap in the first session is difficult. That certainly makes it a challenge for any driver who's not completely comfortable when they roll out in Q1."