A complicated first day for Hamilton in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton experienced two diametrically opposed Free Practice sessions in Australia. In Free Practice 1, the Briton felt particularly comfortable behind the wheel of the W15. A 9th place at the finish but two tenths behind Lando Norris, the fastest of the session (1'18″564). A few hours later, during the second session, the observation was very different. The seven-time world champion no longer recognized his car. A time of 1'18″834 which ranked him 18th, alone Kevin Magnussen was slower than him.

A rather strange day therefore for Lewis Hamilton who was able to taste both faces of his Mercedes with, initially, the good side. “We started the day strong and during the first Free Practice session the car generally behaved well. The first attempt was actually the best the car has made so far this year.", rejoiced Lewis Hamilton at the end of the day.

A very sensitive W15, according to Hamilton

To optimize the performance of his W15, the Mercedes driver then modified a few parameters, which made his car... catastrophic, according to him. “To continue learning, we made some important changes during FP2 and unfortunately the car got worse,” he laments.

However the weekend is far from over and the night will be crucial for Lewis Hamilton: “There are some positives we can take from this first session. We will work hard tonight to improve things before tomorrow” . With a 9th place on the grid in Bahrain, and an 8th in Jeddah, Lewis Hamilton will have to raise the bar in qualifying, in Melbourne, if he wants to score big points for Mercedes. Currently, the seven-time world champion suffers from the comparison with George Russell (6th in FP2), much more comfortable aboard the W15…

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