Lewis Hamilton is not feeling confident aboard his Mercedes at Suzuka
The British driver was far behind in the hierarchy during this first day of the Japanese Grand Prix. He is pointing out an overheating of the tires.
He didn’t manage it. During the two practice sessions, this Friday, September 22nd, Lewis Hamilton didn’t make a strong impression. The British driver was in 16th place during FP1 and in 14th place during FP2. He was half a second behind his teammate George Russell’s lap times.
« It was a very difficult day for us. I had a lack of confidence in the car and that contributed to our difficulties. It was difficult to find the right balance and we didn’t manage to achieve it by the end of FP2. The tires were overheating and that left us quite far from the top of the timing sheets, the seven-time world champion explains.
« We know that we have a lot of work to do tonight to improve performance. However, I believe that we can make improvements. We have experienced similar Fridays this season and we will come back stronger on Saturday. We will see tomorrow if we have done it again. Tonight, we will strive to give ourselves every chance to climb higher in the standings. »
Mercedes is engaged in a battle with Ferrari and Aston Martin for the second place in the constructors’ standings. A new misstep, following George Russell’s in Singapore, where a underperformance could complicate the plans of the German team for the end of the season.
