- Mercedes’ struggles continued in practice at the Australian Grand Prix
- Hamilton was ninth in FP1 and had set-up problems during the second session
- The seven-time world champion said things ‘got worse and worse’ on Friday
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Lewis Hamilton dejectedly admitted second practice for the Australian Grand Prix was one of the ‘worst’ he has had in a long time.
The seven-time champion has remained positive throughout the opening race of the season, despite finishing seventh in Bahrain and ninth in Saudi Arabia.
Mercedes had hopes of an improved performance in this weekend’s race in Melbourne, but Hamilton was left frustrated after finishing 18th in Friday’s second session.
The Briton had struggled with set-up changes to the car throughout the day after finishing ninth in the first session.
“Obviously I’m not feeling well,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. ‘We had one of the worst sessions I’ve probably had in a long time.
Lewis Hamilton lamented one of the ‘worst’ sessions he has had in a long time after a difficult second practice session in which he finished 18th out of the 19 cars that entered
Hamilton finished ninth in FP1, but after set-up problems he dropped down the order in second practice ahead of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix
Hamilton was one of a number of drivers who ran wide during Friday’s practice session
‘P1 felt pretty good overall, the car in P1, driving one, felt the best it’s ever felt and it just got worse and worse.
‘We made some big changes in P2 and it was tough.
‘After that session I feel the least confident I’ve ever felt with this car, but there are positives from the P1 race that we did.’
The Briton finished 1.5 seconds off the pace set by future Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who was fastest during the second session.
Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell did not have the same problems, but he was still six-tenths of a second off the leading Ferrari in sixth.
Leclerc was three tenths faster than Max Verstappen, while the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and the two Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso all finished ahead of the leading Mercedes in Russell.
After the session, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: ‘I think in the second session we went through a really dramatic set-up change with Lewis and it has backfired massively.
‘But that’s why we do these sessions – and on the other hand it was a little bit better. But we lack performances over a single round. All in all, it was not a good day.
Hamilton was 1.5 seconds off next-season team-mate Charles Leclerc, who topped the session for Ferrari
Hamilton locks himself into the corner as he and his team struggle to balance his car
Hamilton had previously been positive despite two difficult races to start the season
‘If I said I wasn’t frustrated, it wouldn’t be the truth. We certainly are, because we are trying so hard in every direction, but we don’t seem to have found that silver bullet yet that will help us move in the right direction.
‘But we’ve got to keep trying – we’ve seen the performance of this car before and I’m not going to go back and say we’re just not good under these rules because we’ve got everything we need to get ahead on top of that. And we will.’