Mercedes is not really satisfied after Friday practice at Silverstone. In the combined time sheet, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton only occupied positions 12 and 16. “Definitely not our best Friday,” judges Russell.
“I think tomorrow the conditions will be different. We need to find out what was going on because the pace in FT1 looked reasonable on the medium. We thought it would be fine if we took the soft. But we were in FT2 we’re in nowhere,” said the Brit.
“We have to understand that,” he knows, explaining that the warm temperatures at Silverstone could have something to do with it. “We’re seeing a small trend where we take a small step back when it’s hotter. We have some ideas as to why that might be,” Russell said.
“So we have to look at the data and see what we can do for tomorrow,” said the Mercedes driver, who reveals: “We definitely made some changes from FT1 to FT2. But maybe that wasn’t enough.”
Hamilton: The car is just difficult to drive
“It was definitely a difficult afternoon,” he sums up and explains with regard to the new front wing that the team brought to the home race that it was very windy today. “So not much can be said about the upgrade as such,” said Russell.
“But in qualifying we will definitely know where we stand,” he predicts. Teammate Hamilton is also not happy after Friday and explains: “It bothers me [der Wind] not, but that definitely made it a bit inconsistent. But I think that’s for everyone.”
“In terms of the car, we struggle with the same things most of the time. The car is difficult to drive. And no matter what we do with the set-up, it’s still a difficult car to drive,” explains the record world champion .
“I didn’t feel any improvement between the tires on a fast lap, which shows that something is wrong. We’re missing something. The long run didn’t look so bad then. At least that’s positive,” Hamilton sighs.
Hamilton: The long run wasn’t that good
Because on the soft tire Hamilton drove a strong long run at the end of FT2 – at least on paper. Because he himself reports: “It didn’t feel particularly great, if I’m completely honest! But it must have been worse for others because they were probably not as fast or had more tire wear.”
“The last part of my run was then more constant, for whatever reason. It could have been the wind or just the balance. Or maybe I got used to the balance,” says Hamilton, who explains that at Silverstone “compromises have to do”.
“It’s such a fine line and such a big window in balance. It goes back and forth. It’s never just there and you can ride. It goes from one end of the spectrum to the other, from the braking phase to the turning and the Mid to exit of each corner. It’s quite a fight,” he explains.
“Me and George talked about it. He went one way with the set-up, I went the other. He said, ‘I wanted to go your way but then your lap time was slow.’ And I said, ‘I wanted to come your way!'” smiles Hamilton.
“We’ll work on that tonight and Mick [Schumacher] will be working in the simulator so hopefully we’ll come up with something for tomorrow,” said the Brit, who clarified, “We’re not in the same race as the Bulls. They’re just too fast.”
Wolff: Only Red Bull is currently doing it
“I really hope that we can somehow make it onto the podium. We definitely have to push quite a bit for that. But where there’s a will, there’s a way,” said Hamilton combatively. Meanwhile, Toto Wolff said after the first practice session that he was expecting a tough weekend.
“We very much hope that [Spielberg] was an outlier for us. But it’s not like we’re going here with super high expectations,” said the team boss, who stressed: “We had a bad weekend [in Österreich] and these cars are unpredictable not just for us, but for everyone.”
“I think these cars are different in their development […] very different from all previous regulations,” says Wolff, explaining: “It’s not at all trivial to develop the tools and use them in the right way to have the fastest car.”
So far, only Red Bull has managed that. And the bulls are now living on this lead. “We have to break the course of a team that is the measure of all things at the moment,” says Wolff, who explains: “I firmly believe that we have everything it takes to fight back.”
What that means for this weekend is not entirely clear after Friday.