Lewis Hamilton admitted to feeling “a little bit lost” after Friday’s opening day of running at the Singapore Grand Prix, the Briton struggling to get to grips with the set-up of his Mercedes W15 despite his and his team’s relentless efforts.
Hamilton clocked in 12th in FP1 and improved only marginally to 11th in the day’s second practice, while teammate George Russell enjoyed better progress, jumping for P16 to P7 in the evening session.
Speaking at the conclusion of his day, Hamilton expressed frustration with the car’s balance and lack of grip.
"This car for me, it feels pretty...it's been a very difficult, very challenging day,” he said. “We've tried everything set-up-wise, and nothing seems to work with the set-up.
"It's definitely very challenging. We're really giving it everything and then you find out you're a second off. I think ultimately we're just a little bit lost at the moment. We're not really sure where to put the car."
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Hamilton’s radio exchanges with Mercedes race engineer, Pete Bonnington, revealed the extent of the issues, with the seven-time world champion struggling for traction out of slower corners and feeling significant understeer throughout the lap.
Despite numerous tweaks and changes made to his car’s setup between FP1 and FP2, the improvements were negligible, and Hamilton’s projections for qualifying were downbeat.
"They didn't do anything, we tried a lot and achieved the same thing,” he said. “At the moment we won't be going into Q3."
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Having also endured a difficult first day at Marina Bay, Russell’s assessment echoed his teammate’s sentiment, the two-time Grand Prix winner feeling that his car was not as connected as it had been in recent races, making it difficult to extract performance from the package.
Russell capped off FP2 with a brush against the barriers at Turn 8 after locking up under braking. Although the contact resulted in a broken front wing and a damaged nose, the incident was a mere inconvenience compared to the underlying issues plaguing his car's handling.
"Not a lot to say [about the crash] really; I locked up, took the front wing off, but it was a really challenging Friday for us,” he explained.
“We were really off the pace today. We need to understand why that is. I'm sure we'll find some answers tonight.
"But we've made some progress from FP1 into FP2. But the car's just not really feeling that well connected as it was this time 12 months ago and in recent races. We need to try and get to the bottom of it.”
©Mercedes
Russell also noted the surprising order of the field, with Ferrari and McLaren showing strong pace, while Red Bull appeared off the mark compared to their usual dominant form, and midfield teams getting into the mix.
"There's a lot of surprises out there,” he added. “You've got the RBs, really quick, you've got the Williams. The Red Bulls seem to be off the pace.
"And there seems to be a big gap to the McLarens and the Ferrari. As a minimum, we hope to be in between that midfield gap and the front four. But right now we've got a lot of work on our hands."
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