'Honest' Hamilton critical: 'Not a brilliant step forward at all'

Lewis Hamilton may have finished the sprint race in second place, but he does not seem to pull much confidence from it for the rest of the weekend. According to the seven-time world champion, Mercedes have not taken a step forward.

After a second place in the sprint race, one might think that the disappointment is over at Mercedes. Hamilton already qualified well in second place, even drove briefly in the lead on Saturday and eventually finished between the two Red Bulls in second place. However, Hamilton thinks conditions this weekend have disguised a lot.

Hamilton downplays optimism

"It’s over 90% down to the scenario of the rain yesterday if I'm really honest. We've not made a brilliant step from the last race. The car is exactly the same. We're battling the same issues that we had in the last race. Probably pace-wise in a similar position. I think today is going to be interesting to see if we can wing it a little bit and try to get as close to the top five. But we're currently not top five qualifiers. Just getting to Q3 will be important today. Unfortunately, I've got extra tyres, so if I can utilise that today, I'll try and maximise it," Hamilton said at the press conference.

Hamilton is not the only one who doubts Mercedes' real pace. Toto Wolff was not happy either after the sprint race in China. The pace of the cars is simply disappointing. Hamilton was mainly helped by the strongly defending Fernando Alonso, which prevented the rest from keeping up with him.