The Mercedes driver finished fifth at Monza on Saturday but was penalized for a powerplant change and will start 19th.
Hamilton has had countless successful F1 careers at Mercedes, but expect ‘everyone will ride the DRS train’ in the race to try to follow and surpass Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.
“I was behind Valtteri in practice yesterday and I couldn’t catch him or pass him,” Hamilton said this weekend when asked about the DRS effect at Monza.
“So, I hope I don’t get stuck tomorrow.
” But I imagine everyone will be on the DRS train, it’s just sitting there waiting for the strategy , tires degrade tomorrow.
“I’m thinking of taking an iPad and watching the new Game of Thrones [which] is out on DRS Online.”
Mercedes Team boss Toto Wolff shared Hamilton’s concerns, but is confident the pace of the W13’s cornering and “smart strategy” could get his driver into the standings on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG, after qualifying at Parc Ferme
Photo by Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“Well, he’s going to need an iPad to entertain himself, we’re going to need an iPad to entertain ourselves, ‘ Wolfe said.
“I really hope it’s not the DRS pressure we’re worried about. But we have a good car, it’s going through the corners faster than all the others and we can take smart strategies , keeping him steady in the standings, no matter what happens in the race.
” And that could be beneficial. And he can go all the way to the front, but it’s obviously a long shot. ”
When Motorsport.com asked if there was a lot of room for strategy at Monza, Hamilton thought Pirelli insists on using a harder compound to make it an “easy” one-stop race and wants “a nice SC (safety car) product” to help him.
“They should put The softest tires are brought here to facilitate more pit stops and stuff,” he added. “But they’ve been carrying these hard tires and you can only do one.
“Tomorrow is a one-stop easy, generally speaking, so strategy won’t do much.
” But I wish there was a safety car or something. I feel very unfortunate about the safety car time this year. It would be nice to have a nice SC product tomorrow. “
