Hamilton: Still work to do but early Mercedes pace 'encouraging'

Lewis Hamilton felt encouraged by Mercedes’ pace on the opening day of running at the British Grand Prix but admitted that more speed is needed to battle the team’s rivals up ahead.

On paper, Friday’s second practice painted a subdued picture of Mercedes’ performance, with Hamilton concluding FP2 sixth while teammate George Russell was only tenth.

Both drivers began the day’s second practice with fresh sets of Medium tyres, opting for shorter runs to get a feel for the car. However, gusty winds across the track made it a challenging session for the Mercedes pair, With Russell finding his car’s balance less agreeable than in FP1.

As the rain clouds loomed, the Mercedes team switched its focus to longer runs before the downpour arrived in the closing minutes of FP2.

But overall, the Brackley squad managed to complete a good number of laps, leaving Hamilton with a positive mindset ahead of tomorrow’s third and final work session despite his 0.653s deficit to McLaren pace setter Lando Norris.

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“The car felt generally good today,” he said. “We’re still a little bit behind the ultimate pace at the front but today was encouraging.

“I don’t think the times are fully representative of where our speed was, but nevertheless, we know we’ve got work to do tonight.

“We will therefore do what we can to try and find more performance and hopefully that can get us a little closer to those ahead.”

Russell acknowledged that his FP2 session had proven more challenging than earlier in the day, and underscored the importance of adaptability given the changing weather conditions that likely lie ahead.

“FP1 was a strong session with the car feeling great,” he explained. “FP2 was a slightly more challenging hour, and we need to pick through why that was.

“It was much windier, and I don’t think we got the tyres in the right window, so that could explain a chunk of it.

"The conditions are likely to change across the weekend, with more rain possible too, so we will have to be adaptive.

“I hope the fans didn’t get too wet this afternoon; as always, it was fantastic to see their support in the grandstands.”

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