Lewis Hamilton is looking to his race strategy to get ahead of both Ferrari’s after qualifying down in fourth position for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
After struggling to get a well-balanced car throughout the weekend, the Briton could not drag his W08 around the track as quickly as his Italian rivals, who showed a significant step up in pace on Saturday morning.
The Mercedes did look to show very quick qualifying pace, Hamilton did top Q2, which may of given a glimmer of hope of possibly equalling Michael Schumacher’s all-time pole position record, but it was not meant to be.
“This hasn’t been the easiest weekend for us,” Hamilton said. “The car didn’t feel completely underneath me during practice but we made some changes into qualifying and the feeling started to improve.
“We knew Ferrari would be quick after seeing their pace this morning, so considering that fact I think we did pretty well to lock out row two. My laps in qualifying were generally good but I made a mistake in Turn 4 on the first run in Q3, so after that it was all about getting in a banker lap to make sure I set a time.”
With the Hungaroring being a tight and twisty track with little room for overtaking, Hamilton hopes that a different strategy could be his chance to beat the Ferrari’s to win in Hungary for a sixth time and head into the summer break leading the world championship.
“Looking to the race, maybe strategy or the tyres will come into play in a bigger way,” the 32-year old added.
“Ferrari seems to have the upper hand this weekend and this race is usually a procession on a circuit where it is hard to follow, so there aren’t many opportunities to gain positions. But we will be giving it everything we can.”
