Hamilton praises Mercedes 'improvements' in Austin

All signals are green for Mercedes in Austin. At the end of the first two free practice sessions organized at COTA, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell came away rather optimistic about the rest of the weekend. The two Britons highlighted the effectiveness of the new parts installed on the W13. With 4 developments made in Austin, concerning the front wing (which was finally rejected by the FIA), the flat bottom and the rear wing, the German team is implicitly organizing a full-scale test for the 2023 season.

Lewis Hamilton, 3rd in Free Practice 1 (then 8th in FP2, but in an unrepresentative session due to the Pirelli tests), gave positive feedback on his first runs in Austin. “Everything went as planned. I am very grateful to everyone at the factory for working so hard and giving us an improvement this weekend, declared the seven-time world champion. I kept the car in one piece today and I felt some improvements in the car... FP1 was pretty good and I hope we make some changes tonight. We will see tomorrow where we are. But I feel like we're not too far from everyone. »

Hamilton still fears 'horrible' Austin bumps

On a bumpy track where the Mercedes could have been in difficulty, the car German has given satisfaction to the pilots and engineers. However, Lewis Hamilton did not fail to note the bumpy appearance of the Texan track, despite the resurfacing carried out last January. " It's horrible ! My god, damn, confided the English pilot. This year we lost a bit of power with biofuels and the car is very stiff. Luckily I don't have many fillings, otherwise they would have all popped out this year for sure. It's very bumpy. »

Mercedes will still have a lot of work during Free Practice 3 to complete its training program, interrupted by the Pirelli tests during FP2. A session where all the drivers, except those who gave up their place to young rookies during FP1, had to try prototype tires for 2023. Lewis Hamilton was rather satisfied with this session dedicated to the future tires of the Italian manufacturer.

“It’s not that bad, actually, explained Hamilton. It's all about feeling. It’s like a fun experience, actually: when you’re on the track, you don’t know what to expect. The balance is always different, the tires react differently every time you take to the track when you try something new. It’s interesting, we try to get the hang of it and get the sensations, feel the difference and record them in order to write them all down when we get back to the pit. When you do a blind test, you hope that the feeling is right, but you just have to say what you feel. »

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