Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were both far from happy with the W14 at the end of the opening day of the British Grand Prix, as the pair settled for P15 and P12 respectively.
With both drivers celebrating their home race this weekend, the Mercedes duo are keen for a strong performance; however, it looks set to be a challenging event in front of their adoring fans.
Whilst Hamilton’s race pace looked very promising during Free Practice 2, both drivers struggled when it came to one lap pace, suggesting that simply making it into Q3 could be a huge challenge.
The British duo spoke very openly after the opening day came to a close about how much they were struggling with the car, with Hamilton having gone as far as stating that the car was “tough to drive” regardless of what they changed.
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“We are battling the same thing – it’s a tough car to drive,” Hamilton told reporters after Friday’s running.
“No matter what we do with the setup it continues to be a tough car to drive. On a single lap, I did not feel an improvement between the different tyres so that shows something is wrong and we are missing something.”
Russell also admitted that the team must “get to the bottom” of why they were so slow over one lap, after the 25-year-old labelled the Germans as being “nowhere”.
“It was definitely not our finest Friday; we need to get to the bottom of it. In second practice, we were nowhere so we need to try and understand that,” said Russell.
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In a bid to find some pace and some answers to their troubling day, reserve driver Mick Schumacher was in the simulator until 2:15 am Saturday morning back at the team’s base in Brackley.
Hamilton and Russell did perform better Saturday morning in Free Practice 3, with Hamilton having ended the session in fifth whilst Russell was four places behind in ninth.
Having shown improved pace in FP3, the hope amongst the Mercedes camp will be that both drivers can progress to Q3 Saturday afternoon, in order to make the most of their strong race pace on Sunday.