“Merc’s power unit is faster at Aston! I see why Hamilton is asking questions”
Hamilton was brilliantly overtaken by Fernando Alonso at the season-opening F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, and finished in fifth. George Russell was seventh, Alonso finished on the podium, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen won.
The winter development of Aston Martin is more stark because they share a technical partnership with underachieving Mercedes.
“They were third and fourth in Q2 but ended up behind Alonso, with the same power unit,” Kravitz said on Sky after qualifying.
“This is the key, this is the key!
“Lewis said after practice: ‘This is the most we can achieve with our concept and we can’t have a Plan B under the cost cap because we can’t afford it’.
“When you look at Mercedes’ power unit running a different concept of car at Aston Martin? And Aston Martin are ahead?
“I can see, you can probably see, why Lewis is asking questions.
“Toto Wolff very firmly said that Lewis is singing from the same hymn sheet and is just being hyper-critical, as he always is.”
Team principal Wolff admitted after qualifying that Mercedes would change the concept of their new W14 car, 24 hours after Hamilton laid bare its limitations.
But, Kravitz insists the mood at Mercedes need not be too gloomy.
“George is fourth hundredths of a second ahead of Lewis,” he said. “They will be evenly matched all season, it will be really interesting to watch.
“Mercedes reckon they are four tenths behind Red Bull. That’s not so bad, considering the glum nature of testing.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
