© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Despite finishing fourth in Friday’s Styrian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 and 2, Lewis Hamilton says that “the car felt relatively solid”.
Lewis Hamilton’s main title rival Max Verstappen finished both Styrian Grand Prix free practice sessions in P1, while the Briton finished in P3 in FP1 and P4 in FP2.
Lewis would have had the best time of the day, but his fastest lap in FP2 was deleted due to a track limits breach. However, he is relatively happy with how the sessions went.
“It was okay, a work in progress,” said Hamilton.
“I think we were a little bit down, particularly over a single lap. But generally over the day, the car felt relatively solid.
“I [found] some weaknesses, and as I said coming into the weekend, we’re losing on the straight a considerable amount, so we’ve just got to keep working to try and rectify that.
“It’s very close I think with the whole pack. I think the Red Bulls, definitely, will be really hard to beat. I think they’ve just got the edge, maybe more.
“We don’t know what they’re going to do when they turn that engine up. But yeah, I really don’t know what to say, because I didn’t really have too many big problems today.
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“I’m happier with where we got the car to. I’ve been working flat out like all week, trying to understand where I want to put the car.
“I’m hopeful that the hard work starts paying off soon.”
After the sessions the Briton said he will do everything he can “during the evening to make steps in the right direction”, but he also admitted he felt he was “kind of eking most of it out of the car”.
“I don’t know if it’s four-tenths gap, we’ll see what happens tomorrow. I think one of my laps got taken away and it was a lot closer.
“Yeah, it’s close. But as I said, particularly in the race pace, they were really, really strong.
“They’re throwing some really good punches right now, so we’ve just got to have our guards up and make sure we’re ready for the return,” concluded the seven-time champion.
