In what he described as “one of the worst sessions I’ve probably had for a long time,” Lewis Hamilton has voiced his concerns about the handling of the W15, following the first two practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix.
Mercedes made several changes to the car after the last race in Saudi Arabia, and the day started promisingly for the seven-time world champion, with the car feeling “the best it’s ever felt” at the beginning of FP1.
Team principal Toto Wolff revealed that the set-up changes on Hamilton’s car between FP1 and FP2 had not gone to plan.
As the team made set-up adjustments throughout the day, Hamilton found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable behind the wheel, claiming that “it just got worse and worse.“
Hamilton finished the session in a disappointing 18th place and was struggling to keep his car on track as the rear of his W15 was a handful in particular. As a result, he claimed: “I obviously don’t feel great.
“We had one of the worst sessions I’ve probably had for a long time… FP1 generally felt quite good, the car in FP1 run one felt the best it’s ever felt.
“And then we made some big changes into FP2, and it was tough.
“After that session, I feel the least confident I’ve ever felt with this car. But there are positives from that FP1 run that we did.”
Despite the problems he encountered today, Hamilton remained positive, hoping that changes can be made before tomorrow’s qualifying session, and ultimately, the race on Sunday.
“Obviously, now we have a team back at the factory working on the sim, we’re trying to get more performance out of it… So let’s see what tomorrow brings. Always when everybody has a good night’s sleep the next day it’s often very different.”
Despite team-mate George Russell having a much better day, coming third in FP1 and sixth in FP2, he spoke about the difficulties currently facing the team.
“We’re pushing the limits, and a few little moments here and there,” he said.
“But all under control in the end. And it seems pretty tight out there. In the first session, I think it was like two-tenths splitting 10 cars.
Russell was on track to perform even better than he did in FP2, but made a mistake during his soft tyre run that cost him P3 behind the rapid Charles Leclerc and World Champion Max Verstappen: “I was on course for a really good lap at the end, and just had a small problem in the last two corners.
“On my very last lap I was I think two or three tenths up. I came out of Turn 12 and I damaged my front wing… And I went off the off the track in the last few corners. I didn’t go off, but I lost loads of lap time there. So I think we would have been P3 in that session. But we’ve always had quite strong FP1 and FP2 showings.“
