Simply 5 days after ending an in depth second on the highway to Max Verstappen at COTA, Hamilton was eleventh in FP1 and seventh in FP2, 0.338s off the pacesetting Purple Bull driver in a tightly-packed subject.
His team-mate George Russell was tenth in FP2, having handed his automotive to Mercedes junior driver Frederik Vesti for the primary session.
After some adjustments within the break, Hamilton and Russell ran totally different set-ups within the later session, and neither was proud of the efficiency.
“Not that nice,” stated Hamilton when requested about his Friday. “Yeah, dodgy – not dodgy, however like simply not the best. Little bit of a battle within the automotive at present.
“The automotive is evening and day totally different in comparison with final week. I do not actually know what actually to say.
“You simply by no means know what you are going to get with this one. Some days, she’s nice, and a few days, she’s not. It is laborious to extract the lap.”
Picture by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Photos
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG, speaks to an engineer
Hamilton stays assured that the automotive could be improved for Saturday.
“I feel there’s undoubtedly efficiency there,” he stated. “It is simply making an attempt to extract it, and it is fairly peaky this weekend, perhaps simply with the aero map or no matter it could be. So we’ll work on it in a single day.
“However undoubtedly it wasn’t a enjoyable day in comparison with FP1 in Austin. And, yeah, we’re a bit a bit off, however hopefully in a single day, we are able to discover one thing and tomorrow [Saturday], perhaps the automotive might be nicer to drive.”
Requested how a lot might be extracted from the automotive, he stated: “Undecided. Once more, you simply by no means know what to anticipate with this automotive. And perhaps we’ll make the adjustments, and we’ll decide that tempo up.
“I feel there was undoubtedly some efficiency in there to be nearer, and perhaps within the prime three.
“However we have to determine tips on how to make it simpler for us to have the ability to extract that efficiency. So that is what we’ll work on tonight.”
Russell, who needed to play catch up after lacking FP1, famous that there have been loads of elements at play within the disappointing efficiency. Like Hamilton, he believes that the automotive could be improved in a single day.
“It was a little bit of a difficult session, there was rain round right here and there, we had the prototype Pirelli tyre, and it is a very tight subject on the market,” he stated.
“However I feel there’s potential, I feel we have loads of work to do in a single day, it is very tight.
“Particularly with some surprising automobiles, you noticed some automobiles within the prime 10 that we weren’t anticipating to be there, however we really feel like we have quite a bit to enhance. However we additionally really feel like we have the chance to do it as properly.”
Russell believes that the tough Friday has pointed the group in the fitting course for Saturday.
“I feel we have been in all probability within the improper window at present,” he stated. “Lewis and I have been working two totally different setups, and we in all probability each weren’t in the fitting window, in order that’s given us a sign that in all probability midway between each is the fitting place to be.
“It is irritating within the second to have a type of adverse automotive, and never have had the perfect of days. However by means of these tough moments you be taught in all probability greater than when the automotive is in a greater place. So I assume that is what apply is all about.”
He added: “In fact, we need to be combating for pole place, Max [Verstappen] at all times is half a step forward, however I feel I feel anyone in case you get it proper could be combating for the entrance two rows. We have to guarantee that’s us.”
