NEW DELHI: Lewis Hamilton hopes Ferrari can repeat last year’s Mexican Grand Prix triumph this weekend but teammate Charles Leclerc sounded a more pessimistic note on Thursday, saying a victory looks out of reach without “strange things happening”.
Carlos Sainz, who is now driving for Williams, delivered Ferrari’s last victory 12 months ago in Mexico, with the team now on a 23-race winless streak.
“I think we were very strong here last year. So I’m hoping that we can take the learnings that they had last year and apply them this weekend,” Hamilton, who has yet to stand on the podium since joining the Italian team in January, told reporters.
The seven-times world champion faces the additional challenge of missing the first practice session, with endurance racer Antonio Fuoco taking the seat to gain Formula One experience.
“I’m missing P1, so this weekend I need to learn to run straight away pretty much,” he added.
Leclerc struck a more downbeat tone about Ferrari’s immediate prospects.
“At the moment it doesn’t seem very likely that we are going to fight for the win this weekend but never say never,” he said. Agencies
Also Read: ‘We were poor in all three disciplines’: Daren Sammy after WI’s 2-1 ODI series defeat