Written by Keith Collantine
Lewis Hamilton doubts he could have lapped much quicker after ending Friday’s practice session in Azerbaijan outside of the top 10.
The Mercedes driver set the 11th-quickest time, 1.041 second slower than pace-setter Sergio Perez in the Red Bull. But despite his lack of pace, Hamilton said he was pleased with his performance.
“Honestly I generally had a really good day,” said the world champion. “It was clean, I got all the laps we needed, there was not really any mistakes – I had a lock-up in [first practice].”
Both Mercedes drivers ended second practice outside the top 10, with Bottas a lowly 16th.
“We’re just slow,” Hamilton admitted. “In general I feel like I’m driving well and the car felt better in [first practice]. In this one there was just no more time in it.
“We’re definitely quite a chunk down and I think everyone will be scratching their heads and looking in the data trying to figure out how we can improve.”
Hamilton said his car felt better over a longer run, but he wasn’t happy with its handling in general. “It didn’t feel good in this session,” he said.
“In general I was pushing, I was on the limit, but the car is limited. There’s areas that I should just be quicker but there’s no more grip. But we’ll work at it.
“Of course it’s definitely not easy to be out of the top 10 when we’ve had pace in other places. I don’t really know where we’re at.”
He said it wasn’t clear whether the team had made progress since its difficult race in Monaco two weeks ago. “It’s impossible to say at the moment,” said Hamilton. “Pace-wise we’ve not gone anywhere forwards. If anything, today it looks like we’ve gone backwards.”
“I felt like I generally had a good day, I just wasn’t very fast,” he added.
Source: racefans.net