Lewis Hamilton has called for Mercedes to make some improvements ahead of Free Practice 3 on Saturday, despite having ended the opening day at the Canadian Grand Prix as the fastest driver.
Mercedes ended Friday with an unexpected 1-2; however, it was a day full of things which weren’t meant to happen.
Free Practice 1 at the Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve was effectively cancelled, due to an issue with the venue’s CCTV cameras.
FP1 did get underway but was red flagged after just five minutes, after an Alpine came to a halt.
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However, the session failed to resume due to various CCTV issues, which resulted in Free Practice 2 being extended to 90 minutes, rather than the usual 60.
Free practice did use to be 90 minutes long, before the sessions were reduced to 60 minutes in 2021.
Hamilton felt that Mercedes didn’t use the additional time “optimally”, regardless of the fact that he topped the session.
“It was ok, probably the bumpiest circuit we have been on in a long time,” Hamilton said after FP2.
“It was a strange day because we missed the first session, I felt really bad for the fans out there. We had a great crowd from yesterday [Thursday], the city is pumping.
“I don’t know what happened with the CCTV cameras, but anyway, we got to go out, it was nice to have an hour and a half session.
“But we haven’t had an hour and a half session in a long time so I felt the time was not used optimally.
“So we will get back and have a look… I was just itching to go and maximise our time out there.
“The car didn’t feel bad but we have definitely got some work to do.”
Mercedes entered this weekend not expecting to be at the front, with the low-speed corners at the Canadian venue not playing to the W14’s strengths.
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Despite this, Hamilton admitted after FP2 that the car was feeling “pretty decent”; however, he noted that the entire grid are struggling with the bumpy surface.
“[It was] not the greatest but not the worst,” Hamilton added.
“It is feeling pretty decent, it is just bumpy. Everyone is having struggles with the bumps so we have just got to improve our ride control and the balance through the corners and I think we will be alright.”