Ex-F1 driver Ralf Schumacher observed “some pressure” at Ferrari after Charles Leclerc’s spectacular restoration on the Chinese language Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton loved a powerful begin to the weekend final outing in Shanghai, dominating the dash a part of the weekend.
Hamilton took pole in dash qualifying earlier than taking a cushty dash race victory.
Ferrari failed to duplicate this in qualifying, settling for fifth and sixth on the grid for the primary grand prix.
It was a disastrous Sunday as Ferrari lacked tempo relative to the highest three groups.
Issues had been made worse for Ferrari as their two vehicles had been disqualified for technical infringements.
Talking to Formel1.de, Schumacher stated: “Whenever you don’t know the group that properly, you’re new, till you get the dangle of it, till your engineer understands you, it takes a couple of months, and I feel you noticed that on Sunday.
“After all, it wasn’t in free air, which makes an enormous distinction in China, and his teammate handed him with the damaged wing as a result of I’ve to say, for the aerodynamicists, put six damaged entrance wings in, they may work simply as properly or higher than an entire one.
“So, it’s a little bit of a tough one to grasp, however I feel he did an excellent, stable job, and I feel Charles Leclerc additionally awakened. I feel that aggravated him, and there was some pressure. Hamilton wasn’t used to being advised to drive quick on the teammate’s aspect.”
Hamilton ‘proved’ he nonetheless has the pace
Schumacher believes China was a breakthrough weekend for Hamilton, who proved “he nonetheless has the pace”.
It was the primary time Hamilton had received a dash race because the format was launched for 2021.
Extra importantly, Hamilton hit the bottom working by way of tempo – one thing that wasn’t usually the case at Mercedes.
“What did shock me is that he actually bought on very well with the automobile within the first apply session, and that was all the time such a problem for him,” Schumacher defined.
“He brakes like that and couldn’t flip in after which he says, man, I drove right here, first lap, and naturally it labored right away, and the observe fits me. Because of this all the pieces got here collectively, which makes me completely satisfied as a result of it proves that he nonetheless has the pace as a result of that’s all the time a little bit of a query as you become older.
“So he has the pace now, it’s only a query of can he stick with it, that’s what I meant from the beginning.”
