Frustrated Hamilton not happy with Mercedes performance

It was not a happy morning of F1 testing for Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who admitted he was "not particularly excited" after his 49 laps.

Published : Mar 08, 2017 17:48 IST

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.

"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.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment