- Hamilton inspects the Mercedes W17 as the Silver Arrows dominate qualifying.
- Ferrari face technical hurdles as the innovative Macarena wing is sidelined.
- Hamilton secures fourth despite ongoing power deployment issues for Scuderia.
Lewis Hamilton caught the attention of the cameras as he inspected his ex-team Mercedes car after coming out of the sprint qualifying session.
Mercedes continues to dominate the season, as it once again secured a front-row lock-out at the Chinese sprint quali, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli starting P1 and P2, respectively.
The now-Scuderia Ferrari driver addressed the media post-sprint quali, revealing that he was pleased with the session. He would begin from 4th position on the grid tomorrow, sandwiched between the two McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who start P3 and P5. He believed the team did a great job of getting the car back on track after it suffered a spin during the first “tricky” practice session.
Although he felt the car was good, he pointed out that they are losing more time on the straights and still feel there’s a lot of work to do on the power side. This is Hamilton’s second year at Ferrari, which he joined after leaving behind the Silver Arrows to fulfill his childhood dream of being a part of the Italian team. However, his debut season was a disaster, as the driver faced several setbacks across various circuits and didn’t end up on the podium, not even once.
Inspector Hamilton investigates Mercedes from all angles
The sprint qualifying session placed both Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc and Hamilton, in decent places on the grid, putting them in a fight with McLaren and Silver Arrows in front. While Hamilton was seemingly happy with his placement on the grid, Leclerc was visibly frustrated with the session, even complaining on the radio about a loss of power, which made him lose four tenths.
The official F1 page recently took to social media to share a video of Hamilton inspecting the Mercedes car from different angles after stepping out of his Ferrari post-sprint qualifying. He appeared to be gathering strategic information or understanding the performance difference. He also greeted some of the Mercedes crew members around the car as he took a stroll around it while it was being dragged back to the garage.
The elimination of the Macarena wing
During week 2 of Bahrain pre-season testing, Ferrari came up with an innovation which was initially dubbed the ‘flip wing’, and it garnered massive attention from fans and teams alike. Now called the Macarena wing, or as Hamilton likes to call it, “flip flop”, it was designed to optimise the performance of the SF-26.
It’s a rear wing that rotates 270 degrees upside down, allowing it to reduce drag on straights. While it didn’t make it to the Australian Grand Prix, it was brought to the first practice of the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. During the session, it was attached to both drivers’ SF-26 cars, but it seemed that it didn’t work as the team expected, leading to its removal in the next session.
