Lewis Hamilton Disappointed As Mercedes Melt And Max Verstappen Triumphs

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes said poor set-up decisions were to blame on Saturday as their hopes melted in the sun as Max Verstappen dashed to victory in the sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion and his team boss Toto Wolff expressed bitter disappointment after arriving in Brazil with high expectations following two strong races in Texas and Mexico. But after a sharp start, Hamilton fell from fourth to seventh while team-mate George Russell battled to hang on in fourth place, both struggling on worn tyres as Verstappen cruised home ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull-team-mate Sergio Perez.

« It was horrible today, » said Hamilton. « Not enjoyable whatsoever. I had a good start, but I was fighting the car from early on with understeer and oversteer and then I had no tyres in the end.

« And now I don’t know how we can fix that for tomorrow…. It’s going to be a long afternoon. I went for the wrong set-up, I assume, and it is what it is, but I’ll fight as hard as I can. We won’t be winning tomorrow, that’s for sure. »

Wolff, in a testy mood, said: « We had a great start and pushed hard, but after that it was clear the car was not balanced right. We were sliding and that killed the tyres.

« The rear was set up too weak and the car was on a knife’s edge on these tyres… It was a bruising day. »

He waved aside mentions of his team’s previous sprint race successes including last year’s win by George Russell. « Well, I don’t care about the past and today it wasn’t good. »

Russell said he felt the race, run in temperatures of 28 degrees Celsius (air) and 46 degrees on the track, was « confusing and disappointing ».

« It wasn’t there for us today when we expected a lot, but the conditions are different tomorrow and that can change everything.

« Max finished 25 seconds ahead on a 24-lap race. But tomorrow will be different – it will be three degrees cooler and that’s everything. »

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)