Formula 1 News: Hamilton thinks he found sweet spot for W15

Lewis Hamilton thinks his Japanese Grand Prix qualifying was a breakthrough moment in his understanding of the Mercedes W15.

Speaking to Sky F1 after qualifying, Hamilton revealed he has stopped playing around with his setup this weekend and now has a more complete understanding of the W15’s weaknesses.

Hamilton said: “I was giving it everything.

“The team did a really great job this past week understanding – or making adjustments to – our setup.

“It’s actually the first weekend I’ve not gone crazy with setup and testing a bunch of things, so I’m back to being a bit more normal and I think we’ve got the car into a much nicer working window.

“Every lap, it’s been really enjoyable driving, it’s just the guys ahead are just a little bit faster.

“We were just over a second off the Red Bull last year and seven (sic) tenths is better. I think, if we’d done something a little bit different, maybe we could have been another tenth faster. Maybe, said Hamilton.

“But other than that, that was everything.

“I think what it’s given us is that I know exactly where the car is not strong enough.

“I can feel it in the car and I know now to be able to like tell them: ‘Push in this particular area.’

“I’m hoping the race will be stronger, and I’ve really enjoyed driving the car this weekend.”

Asked if Mercedes have now established a good direction for the car’s development for the rest of the season, Hamilton added:

“I personally believe so.

“What we’ve noticed is from track to track it’s been really, really hard to get the setup right and it’s been so far out each time.

“In some places you just felt like nothing we could do gets the car in a sweet spot, but this weekend it’s much more in a sweet spot.

“So I hope that continues in the following races, and then we’ve just got to add performance.”