Lewis Hamilton claims Mercedes’ W15 hasn’t ‘felt good setup-wise’ around the tricky Hungaroring

Lewis Hamilton managed a P7 finish in FP2.

Lewis Hamilton claims Mercedes’ W15 hasn’t ‘felt good setup-wise’ around the tricky Hungaroring

Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)

The Mercedes F1 team has been on an upward trajectory since Austria, but, things have not panned out well so far around Hungaroring. During yesterday’s Hungarian GP FP1 and FP2 sessions, the outfit was struggling a bit and this was acknowledged by Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes ended Friday’s running with Lewis Hamilton in P7 and George Russell in P5. The team tested quite a few things during the two practice sessions and after the end of it all, the former sounded a bit worried about the chances of the W15 around the 4.3 km track.

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Friday’s running was done under extremely hot weather conditions.

Today's not been a good day, really. The weather's been good, and it's nice to be here, but we've not really been on form today. The car hasn't felt good set-up-wise, but I think we have an idea why and we'll just work overnight, but not the best prep so far.
Lewis Hamilton via Motorsport

Looking at the reaction of the seven-time world champion, it is quite clear that Mercedes has got work to do before qualifying. Moreover, Hamilton has also indicated that his team has an idea of where work is needed and is thus, going to put in the effort accordingly.

Lewis Hamilton pleased with W15’s ‘long run pace’

While Hamilton has shown concern ahead of today’s sessions, he has also asserted that he is quite pleased with the long-run pace of W15. Hamilton and Russell did quite a few long-run stints during FP1 and FP2.

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)
It's all relatively close. Otherwise, I think we couldn't do the pace that the other guys did today, but the long-run pace was pretty decent at the end. It just felt as bad as it does normally when it's hot.
Lewis Hamilton said in the same interview

Mercedes has come to Budapest on the back of two consecutive Grand Prix wins. The Toto Wolff-led team has proved extremely strong but as has been the case in recent times, the lights of McLaren, Red Bull, and even Ferrari, are set to give them a hard time around the tricky Hungaroring.

Keeping in view everything that has been discussed, today’s qualifying session will set the tone for Mercedes for the rest of the weekend. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will surely give it full beans going ahead!!

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