Credits: Imago
Lewis Hamilton publicly expressed his frustration with Mercedes when the team didn’t listen to his feedback regarding the issues he was facing with his car last year. Problems have carried on to the current season as well, but Hamilton keeps fighting to make the W15 work on the track. However, with the recent upgrade package seemingly working, he holds on to the hope of a strong result at the upcoming Spanish GP.
Hamilton finished P1 in FP2 on Friday, a positive result in what has been a difficult campaign for the Briton. “Practice 2 definitely felt better. I think we made some good changes. The car is feeling really great today”, he said.
“It doesn’t feel like we’re too far off. The car is definitely in a better place. We got so much to do to improve it overnight.”
Hamilton hasn’t had a lot to be happy about in 2024, often complaining about the W15 being on a ‘knife’s edge’. The car has been fast in practice on several occasions, but as soon as he begins pushing in Qualifying, the pace disappears. This led to several claims that Mercedes was actually sabotaging the 39-year-old.
In Barcelona on Friday, Hamilton finished FP1 in P7 and after working the car around with a setup, he topped FP2. Hamilton is hopeful now, but knows that there is still a lot more work to be done. The grid is close, and Verstappen in P5 was just two and a half-tenths slower than him.
Despite Lewis Hamilton’s Blistering Practice Time, Andrew Shovlin delivers Realistic Verdict
Hamilton’s struggles in Qualifying despite good practice sessions have baffled a huge portion of the F1 community. Explaining the reason behind the same, Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin blames the Pirelli tires.
He reveals that the car loses performance when the tires are pushed to the limit.
However, there seems to be a change in the pattern following Mercedes’ front-wing upgrades in Canada. Hamilton and George Russell were quick at the Canadian GP qualifying, which resulted in a pole position for the latter.
“It’s always hard to know where you stand on Friday given the range of power modes and fuel loads, but we’ve also had many a good first day followed by a tough qualifying session”, suggested Andrew Shovlin after the Practice sessions in Barcelona. He further suggested that the W15 working around a track with high-speed corners is positive. Yet, Mercedes will look to improve overnight based on the driver’s feedback, not dwelling too much on their practice pace.
