Friday was 'quite a struggle' says Hamilton
F1 News
- Cameron Smith
Lewis Hamilton has revealed that despite an encouraging two practice sessions at Circuit Paul Ricard, he's still struggling in his W12. The seven-time world champion failed to score points in Azerbaijan and was far from convincing in Monaco, but back to traditional circuits, he looked more comfortable from afar. However, he has revealed that he's still not happy with his pace.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Hamilton explained that he was still not at his best. When asked if much had changed between Baku and France, he replied: "Not much different to be honest even though the position is quite a bit different to Monaco and Baku but quite a struggle this weekend.
"I think probably for everyone - I don't know if it's the track surface or the temperature or these inflated tyres. They put the pressures up higher then ever before, one of the highest. We are all sliding around. It's a struggle out there for everyone."
Despite claiming to be struggling, Hamilton still ended FP2 in thid place, but revealed that he and his team would be analysing how to improve: "I am looking at every option. We made a lot of changes, and we will do a lot of analysis tonight with hope that it will be better tomorrow. The times don't look terrible. You could say that they would be quick.
Chassis switch
For this weekend, Hamilton has swapped chassis with Valtteri Bottas, and is now using the chassis that helped Bottas qualify so impressively in Monaco. Hamilton, however, doesn't think it'll make much difference: "It's a different track, so, rarely do you have a difference between the chassis."
Hamilton also added that "the hard tyre is the tyre that many will be going for in the race." According to the Brit "the softs go off halfway through the lap and the medium lasts a bit longer," so, it seems mediums could be the way to go for the starting compound.