Lewis Hamilton says there's "nothing exciting" in the pipeline for Mercedes as the reigning Constructors' World Champions attempt to get on top of their current issues. With Hamilton and teammate George Russell claiming fifth and sixth on the grid respectively for the Australian Grand Prix, the quickest time set by a Mercedes was a second off the pole position lap posted by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz failed to join in the battle at the front after losing his first run due to an unfortunately-timed red flag, and Hamilton was very aware that he and Russell should have been further back as a result. "There's a Ferrari that should have been ahead of us, but I'm grateful for that position," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365.com , after the qualifying session.
Hamilton: We haven't made any progress
Asked whether he felt any better behind the wheel of the W13, a matter-of-fact Hamilton said his team are standing still relative to the competition. "We haven't made any progress," he bluntly commented. "I don't know what is coming yet. I know everyone's working really, really hard, but we've had three races and no progress in the three races. "I really hope, over this next week, we can get as much information as we can from the race tomorrow and that we're able to extract something and figure out how we can fix something for the next race." With Mercedes supposedly set to introduce quite a few upgrades for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, including a new floor aimed at targeting their porpoising issues, Hamilton downplayed its significance. "I would say that there's nothing particularly exciting coming at the moment," he said. "I wish I could be optimistic like, at the next one, we've got something better coming in but, at the moment, we don't."
Hamilton "not enjoying" driving the car
The seven-time World Champion went on to say he's currently enjoying working with the team more than he is enjoying being out on track. "It is a long way off; it's a second off, so it's a pretty huge gap," he explained. "I enjoy the role of working with the team. I don't enjoy driving this car, but I enjoy the collaboration [of] working with the guys, knowing that there is a steep hill to climb, and just remaining hopeful that we will get there." Asked for specifics about where he finds the car is falling short of his expectations, he gave a thin smile. "Everywhere!" Hamilton responded. "In some places, it doesn't feel terrible – it's just not as fast as the others. "Where I'm really unhappy is with the porpoising, that's really the worst characteristic I've experienced in the car. But we can't get rid of that for the moment."
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