Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are unhappy with how practice has been disrupted for Friday’s seven-time world champion in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton sat out FP1 – with new driver Frédéric Westi taking the reigns of his W14 – but returned for the evening session. He wound up eighth fastest after two poor laps in an hour filled with an incident that saw two red flags.
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After jumping from the cockpit, Hamilton was asked if he was enjoying his Friday. „Not particularly,” he said. „It wasn’t the greatest days. I think I only got four laps really.
“So it’s not much in one day in terms of your knowledge of the car and the track. But the car doesn’t feel bad, I don’t think we’re in a terrible place, I hope to run a bit more tomorrow.
Based on his limited run, the seven-time world champion was asked if he could fight for the top positions in Q3. He said: “Not at the moment. I’m going to try and see if there’s a way to get into Q3.
Hamilton had a low run on Friday after sitting out FP1 and returning for the second practice session
„We had tough qualifying sessions and getting from Q1 to Q2 is always going to be a tough battle. Even getting into Q3 is challenging. Tomorrow morning’s job will be to make sure we can get into Q3.
„I think it will be close. I think Jorge is good, he may be in a better place, but he didn’t miss FP1. Nevertheless, I’m not going to make any excuses, I’ll try it tomorrow.
Russell was the fastest driver in FP1 and he followed that up with sixth fastest in the second hour run.
„A pretty positive Friday I must say,” Russell said. „Obviously a lot of the young drivers in the car in FP1 find it very difficult to gauge the speed of the car, [and] FP2 [was] Very interrupted. But I felt happy, felt good outside.
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„Long run speed seemed to be more important. I think it’s closer to people like Lando [Norris] And maybe Charles. We always knew Red Bull had a little more in their pockets. So, I’m excited to go tomorrow.
Early in the first practice session, Russell had a moment of worry when he complained that he couldn’t turn the wheel. However, he revealed the reason for the momentary fear.
„[It’s a] Big secret,” joked Russell. „We’re trying some little bits and bobs on the car that we’ve tried in a lot of races.
„It had a slightly different effect in Abu Dhabi than previous races, so feeding the team back. But all good.”
„Całkowity introwertyk. Nieprzejednany specjalista od sieci. Przyjazny fanatyk bekonu. Student ekstremalnych. Miłośnik piwa. Organizator.”