Hamilton not entirely happy with car balance

Lewis Hamilton says the opening day of free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix was “not the best of Fridays”, as the Briton struggled with the balance of his car in Sakhir.

Mercedes comfortably set the pace in FP1 and FP2, leaving its nearest rivals over one second in arrears on both occasions. But in a reverse scenario of Melbourne, it was Nico Rosberg who swept the two sessions, with Hamilton trailing his team-mate by half a second and two tenths respectively.

“It was OK,” the triple world champion said. “It was not the best of Fridays, but there was no real particular issues, it was just getting the balance right. We got through our programmes, so there’s no problem.

“This is always a difficult track for me, getting the balance right and getting braking right – I think it probably is for everyone. The last couple of years I have got there, but this year I am working to get there again.”

With Hamilton coming off back-to-back wins in Sakhir, his comments might come as a surprise but the 31-year-old insists that Bahrain International Circuit has always been one of Rosberg’s stronger suits.

“Nico is always fast here, so it’s always a huge challenge to beat him on this track and I haven’t got the balance right just yet. If I get it right, we shall see but it’s always hard.

“Naturally I have to keep trying to dial in the car. I need to find a little bit of time in the final sector, but I lost a bit of time with traffic on the last corner with Sebastian [Vettel], but it was only a tenth, so he [Rosberg] is still faster by a tenth. There is some work to do, it’s not impossible, but it’s going to be hard.”

REPORT: Rosberg heads Hamilton and Button in FP2

AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix FP1 and FP2

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