(Motorsports news) Lewis Hamilton and his team-mate George Russell ran a different programme to other squads on the opening day of action, as they headed clear of using the soft tyre in FP1. However, after going for the softer compound in the afternoon, neither driver found a major deviation in lap time which left them baffled about what is happening. Hamilton ended up 15th in FP2, with Russell three places ahead in 12th.
Commenting about the FP, Hamilton said: “We’re battling the same thing most of the time. It’s a tough car to drive. No matter what we do to set up, it persists to be a tough car to drive. On a single lap, I didn’t feel any improvement between tyres, which shows that something is wrong. We’re missing something. In the long run, it didn’t seem to be too bad, so that’s a positive in all those consequences at least.”
Hamilton quoted that even the long run pace had not been clear to comprehend though, because he sensed the pace picked up towards the end of his stint. “It didn’t feel specifically great if I’m really honest, but it must have felt worse for others because they weren’t as quick or potentially had more deg,” he clarified.
“It’s like one end to the other end of the spectrum, from braking to turn in, to mid, to the exit of every corner. So, it’s a good battle. The last part of my run was beginning to feel more uniform, for whatever reason. It might have been wind, it might have been balance, or me getting used to balance. This track is really about trying to weigh the scales the absolute way around and making compromises here and there. There’s such a fine edge on the balance and such a big balance window. It’s back and forth, it’s never just here and you can just drive it.”
George Russell spoke that there was no apparent explanation for what had happened and a deeper analysis would be required ahead of Saturday’s race. He added, “Definitely not our finest Friday, I think circumstances will be different tomorrow, but we need to try and get to the bottom of it because the pace and FP1 was looking reasonably fine on the medium tyre. We thought it was right up there if we took the soft. But in FP2 we were nowhere. So, we just need to try and understand that.”
Hamilton commented, “Mercedes’s performance was further obscured by the fact that both he and Russell seemed ready to switch set-ups and follow what the other did. Me and George were just talking and he’s one way, he’s over here with the set-up, I’m over here,” explained Hamilton.
“He was like ‘I’m considering coming to where you are, but your lap time is slow’ and I’m like ‘I was thinking of coming to where you are’. But we’ll try and work on it tonight. Mick Schumacher will do some work on the sim tonight. Hopefully, we will come up with something for tomorrow.”
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