Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton struggled to get near to the times set by Max Verstappen throughout the weekend, but the reigning champion was able to reduce the gap to 0.388s at the season opener Bahrain GP.

‘’Max did a great lap, nearly 0.4 is a big gap so we have some work to do! The car was feeling good in Q1 and Q2, we took until the last minute trying to find the right set-up and it felt sweet, ’’ said Lewis Hamilton in post Qualifying media debrief.

According to Lewis, it was the maximum he could extract from W12 and there wasn’t more room for improvement.

‘’Just at the end I couldn’t get any more from it but still, it was exciting. I’m immensely proud of everyone. We’ve worked very hard over the last week to try and understand the package that we have.’’

‘’We made some steps forward but we couldn’t compete with that last lap Max did. P2 puts us in a position to cause Red Bull trouble tomorrow.’’

Shedding light on the rule changes Lewis thinks new rules were made to put Mercedes on the back foot just like the engine mode restrictions.

“I mean, it’s no secret that the changes, of course they have been done to peg us back,” he said.

''We had the changes, of course, last year to our engine to do the same thing.

''But that’s OK. We love a challenge and we don’t look down on these things. We just work hard to do the best we can, and that’s what we will do.”

I’m so grateful for all the work this team has put into this car. It’s down to each and every team member and all those back at the factory to see that both of these #W12’s go out and deliver each race weekend. Honoured to be a part of this team 🙌🏾 #WeWinAndLoseTogether pic.twitter.com/WT0Sr2K0jM

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) March 27, 2021