Frustrated Hamilton not happy with Mercedes performance
Lewis Hamilton may have completed 49 laps and clocked the third-fastest time during the opening session of the second week of Formula One testing, but the Mercedes driver was not happy.
The three-time drivers’ champion enjoyed a promising opening start to the new season last week but on resumption in Barcelona he was slightly off the pace.
Hamilton was nearly a second slower than Felipe Massa before lunch at the Circuit de Catalunya, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo also able to go quicker than the Briton, who was out on soft tyres for much of the session.
And the 32-year-old championship favourite spoke of his disappointment as he stepped out of the car, his day in the W08 over as Valtteri Bottas takes over.
Hanging out at Turn 10 and who did we find…@LewisHamilton and the beast!
You can’t beat the sound and smell of an @F1 car #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/R6dPOREQb3
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) March 7, 2017
“It wasn’t feeling great today, but that’s just with set-up and it’s quite hot today as well so tyres degrading and things like that,” he told Sky Sports News.
“And we had some damage to the floor, but I didn’t have any offs or anything like that, which is a good thing. I did see puffs of smoke from other people going off, but I managed to keep it on.
“Just a bit of an awkward balance today and I think the temperatures are a bit higher today, so it’s harder on the tyres. Perhaps not having the car really in the window, but also having damage to the floor meant there was good corners and not-so-good corners.
“They’re working on that to make sure Valtteri has a clean afternoon.
“I’m not particularly excited at the moment, just because it’s the first day of week two and I didn’t get a lot of running this morning, so I’m looking to the next couple of days.”
Things could be worse for Hamilton, though, as his former team McLaren encountered more troubles, Stoffel Vandoorne needing another new Honda engine – the sixth they have needed during testing.
