Hamilton puts his finger on the problem: "Monaco-esque"

Lewis Hamilton has had a very strong first day in Saudi Arabia. The Briton set the fastest time twice during the free practice sessions, beating his competitor Max Verstappen in the process. The seven-time world champion knows he has to stay sharp.

Whereas Hamilton set a time of 1:29:786 earlier in the day, he was over seven-tenths quicker in the second free practice session. The Brit felt his car had grip, giving him a good feeling ahead of Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race. In a conversation with Sky Sports he showed confidence in a good outcome.

"The grip felt the same in both sessions. What I noticed straight away that the grip is very high. The long-run pace was similar but decent. We tried a few things with the setup and we are not rapid on a single lap I would say compared to the others, but our long-run pace does not seem too bad compared to the others," Hamilton said.

However, Hamilton was troubled by traffic on the track during the free practice sessions. "Traffic is definitely a lot worse than a lot of places we go to," he stated. "Monaco-esque. The closing speeds on other cars is definitely getting into a danger zone."

Hamilton is happy with the track

The Brit spoke with great enthusiasm about the circuit on which the drivers drove for the first time on Friday. "Rapid. Unbelievably quick. It's really incredibly fast. A lot of grip as well. If you can get the rhythm it's a beautiful track," Hamilton said.