Lewis Hamilton says McLaren’s pace in qualifying for the British Grand Prix is good for Formula 1 but “a wake up call” for Mercedes.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified second and third behind Max Verstappen at Silverstone, with Verstappen needing a final lap to beat the lead McLaren by just over 0.2s. Hamilton ended up seventh behind teammate George Russell in sixth, and says the concept that his former team has followed is proving to be the right one.
“Not surprised,” Hamilton said. “If you look at the car it makes sense. I’m really happy for them; they’ve had a bad run for so long. To be back up there is really, really great to see.
“If you put it alongside a Red Bull it’s looks very, very similar down the sides. And it’s working, and that’s great to have them up in the mix, which is what we want to see in this sport.
“It’s not a blow, it’s just a wake up call for us. Others are overtaking us. We need to do more.”
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Hamilton doesn’t expect an easy run trying to beat McLaren on Sunday, believing it will be tough to finish on the podium at his home race.
“They had the edge on us last race so I anticipate tomorrow will be the same … Of course I’ll try and be optimistic and do our best, but realistically I’m not sure how… We’ll find out. It was difficult to get past the two Ferraris and we’ve got two McLarens now there. Gonna be a tough race.
“It’s always a special feeling to be here for the British Grand Prix. You always hope you can bring a great performance for the British fans so naturally today it’s disappointing we couldn’t do more, but hopefully tomorrow we can give them a good race.”
After beating Hamilton in qualifying, Russell says Mercedes can at least take heart from the progress made overnight after a tough Friday.
“Our numbers suggested we were 17th and 18th yesterday in qualifying, then third and fourth in the race,” Russell said. “Clearly we made some improvements. I was gutted to see we were half a tenth from P3, which would have been incredible. My lap felt great. I don’t think there was much in there.
“Lewis has been really on it this weekend and pushing me hard. Well done to McLaren — they came from nowhere and are the big unknown for tomorrow.”