Lewis Hamilton admits Mercedes could do with the forecast rain arriving at Spa-Francorchamps for qualifying on Saturday after what he described as “a pretty bad” first day at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Despite the much-improved W15 being equipped with a fresh round of updates on Friday at Spa-Francorchamps, Mercedes finished one second behind pacesetters McLaren around F1’s longest lap at the end of second practice.
George Russell was sixth quickest, with Hamilton two tenths further back on his team-mate in 10th after a compromised soft-tyre run in the second session when the fastest laps were set.
“It was a pretty bad day,” admitted Hamilton afterwards.
“I don’t really know what to say! Obviously, it’s been feeling great in the past couple of races, but it just felt completely different today.
“We worked on it. The first session was not great but then in the second session we made some changes and it started off great, and then when I got to the soft tyre I just couldn’t improve and there were a bunch of balance issues we had through the lap.
“It was better through this session, but everyone else went even better. So to be 1.2s behind is not great.”
Although Friday’s running was unaffected by the weather, that is rarely the case for a full race weekend around the fast, undulating Belgian track in the middle of the capricious Ardennes Forest, and wet weather is duly expected to arrive on Saturday.
Hamilton admits that, on the evidence of Friday, the rain could come to Mercedes’ rescue.
“Fantastic because if it’s dry then, at the moment, we’re not going to be in the greatest of places,” he said.
“But overnight we can make some changes for sure.
“If it rains then that opens it up a little bit and hopefully we can do a better job. I think the car should be better in the wet than it is in the dry.”
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Hamilton says the exchange between him and Lando Norris did not bother him and he did not take it personally
Russell hopes to turn tables on rivals over weekend
Russell admitted McLaren and Red Bull – as was the case at the Hungaroring last week – remain the teams to beat, although he also intriguingly suggested the former may have been running in their highest-power engine mode compared to others.
The Briton expressed hope that Mercedes could find set-up improvements to close the gap through the weekend.
“We’ve got some work to do tonight. I think McLaren are definitely a step ahead of us at the moment, and Red Bull,” said Russell.
“So just need to keep on assessing and go from there.”
He added: “It’s only been 10 minutes since I’ve jumped out the car, so I need to have a look at the long-run pace at high fuel. And then I think the McLarens were at max power, which gives you around a couple of tenths this track.
“So [Saturday] is definitely a different day and I’m sure we can find a bit more tonight. But we’ve often had very good Fridays and the others have caught up on Saturday, so hopefully that will be us this weekend.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Belgian GP schedule
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments throughout the years at the Belgian Grand Prix
Saturday July 27
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Belgian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Belgian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Belgian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 28
7:25am: F3 Feature Race
8.55am: F2 Feature Race
10.40am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Belgian GP build-up*
2pm: The BELGIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Belgian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
The Formula 1 action continues this weekend with the final race before F1’s summer break, the Belgian Grand Prix. You can watch every session from Spa-Francorchamps live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
