Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton struggling to find set-up

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Lewis Hamilton says he is struggling to find the right set-up in Barcelona after tricky conditions during practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

While Nico Rosberg was quickest in FP1, Hamilton hit back by comfortably setting the fastest time in FP2 as he lead the rest of the field by over 0.4s. However, with Hamilton's afternoon time slower than Rosberg's morning effort, it was a hard session to gauge any progress made between sessions.

Asked if he is happy with the balance of his car, Hamilton replied: "At the moment I’m not.

"I don’t really know why. It feels very inconsistent throughout the lap, because I think the wind is up and down. In some places you’re getting gusts, sometimes you’re not getting a gust. Sometimes it’s oversteer, sometimes its understeer. Sometimes it’s fine, perfect, then the next lap it’s different, so that makes it very difficult to find the set-up.

"I don’t know if there is less grip, because this is what we started with today – it’s like Melbourne. It’s definitely harder to drive because sometimes the car’s perfect, sometimes it’s understeer, sometimes it’s oversteer, so it’s actually really hard."

And Hamilton says he has taken notice of the way Rosberg started the weekend in FP1, adding: "I think he’s going to be quick. I just need to be quicker."

Click here for Friday's gallery from the Spanish Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.