F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Hamilton: Mercedes "needs its A game" in Shanghai

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in both of Friday's free practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix.

But with a tenth of a second covering the top four at the end of the day, Hamilton is acutely aware that Mercedes can afford no mistakes this weekend in Shanghai.

"Ferrari were quick and Red Bull looked really fast on the long run," Hamilton said. "It's good to see all the times so close, but it means that we really need to bring our A game.

"We need everyone in the team to be on it throughout the weekend, because it is a joint effort."

Hamilton was certainly happy that Friday had gone to plan for the team.

"It has been a good day," he said. "We got through all the laps that we needed and got some good feedback about the car.

"The balance of the car is good, but we have some fine-tuning to do on it tonight," he continued.

"We've had a fairly normal Friday programme here," confirmed Mercedes' chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin. "Mainly we have been focussed on understanding the car balance and the tyre behaviour for qualifying and the race."

The day's preparations were complicated by changeable conditions. The afternoon session was effectively curtailed by 15 minutes by the arrival of light rain at Shanghai International Circuit.

"When I got to Shanghai the weather was really good," said Hamilton. "But it's gone downhill. Now we got the rain and it's cold." High winds had also been a factor.

According to Shovlin, the unsettled conditions are expected to continue on Saturday but improve in time for the race.

"The conditions are very cool today," he said. "Similar to winter testing.

"We are expecting more mixed weather tomorrow, and our normal qualifying preparation could be affected by a bit of rain in FP3.

"However, for Sunday the current forecasts show the sun coming out and we should get a much hotter track.

"Some of the work tonight needs to focus on that change of temperature for the race," Shovlin pointed out. "But even for the cool conditions we anticipate tomorrow, we have work to do on the balance to fine tune a few corners.

"It's clear that ourselves, Red Bull and Ferrari are closely matched on pace. And as always, they will be improving their cars overnight.

"We will be working with our usual diligence to try and find every last bit of performance."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Aston Martin says performance shortfall led to Fallows exit

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough has shed some light on why the team’s former…

3 hours ago

FIA clamps down on plank loophole after Red Bull complaint

The FIA has issued a pivotal Technical Directive to F1 teams ahead of this weekend’s…

4 hours ago

F1 drivers blindsided by race director Wittich’s sudden exit

The abrupt removal last week of FIA race director Niels Wittich with just three races…

6 hours ago

McLaren relaxes ‘papaya rules’: Norris and Piastri free to race

Oscar Piastri has confirmed that McLaren’s team orders—dubbed the "Papaya Rules"—have been largely relaxed, giving…

7 hours ago

Cheers to the forever young pure racer Jacques Laffite

The forever young Jacques Laffite turns 81 today, but the years haven't aged this pure…

8 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Wednesday's build-up in pictures

The neon lights of Las Vegas are set to illuminate the Formula 1 world once…

9 hours ago