Lewis Hamilton has revealed that after changes made to the Ferrari following sprint qualifying, the SF25 has become quite quick, and during the evening he will make a master plan on how he intends to record the first official main race victory for Ferrari.
The former Mercedes driver took his first win for Ferrari in a sprint race after starting from pole position. However, he failed to translate that pace into a top-notch performance in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Reflecting on whether the team’s qualifying result was a result of improvements from other teams or whether Ferrari had lost performance somewhere, the British driver explained: “We made a few changes to the car after the sprint qualifying to fix some problems we had. I don’t know if it was because of the wind, but the car became quite fast.”
“[The] fast lap wasn’t the cleanest at the end, and I should have been a few tenths better, or at least a tenth, so we’re not terribly far off,” he notes.
When asked if he thought he could still have the pace of a sprint race, Hamilton said:
“I hope so. I really hope so. We made some changes to improve the race performance, but it was definitely harder on the fast lap, so tomorrow will be interesting.”
“It’s a great track to race on. It’s not a track where you just have one line everywhere, so that’s a positive. But, you can see how people are still struggling to keep up with each other this morning. So how you use the tires, when you use the tires will be key tomorrow.”
“I’m in a very different position too, but I feel optimistic for tomorrow. I’d like to get a good start and get ahead of at least one car and then slowly get closer. Tonight I’ll just make a master plan to win and I have to try to execute it, but that’s where my mindset is,” the Briton pointed out.
Hamilton is far more in tune with the team this weekend. After a troubled Australian Grand Prix last week, the seven-time champion arrived in China with significant progress: winning pole in the sprint, winning the sprint, and now starting from fifth place for tomorrow’s race.
“It’s going to be a roller coaster, isn’t it? There will be ups and downs. And again this afternoon we didn’t expect to be 5th and 6th, or at least I didn’t expect to be where I am. But that’s what we can face during the season,” he explains.
“So I just have to try to stay calm. I’ll do my best tomorrow and see where we turn,” concluded Lewis Hamilton.
