Lewis Hamilton expressed that it was the “first time I’ve had a day like that” in 2024 as he headed the opening two practice hours at Formula 1‘s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Hamilton fronted a Mercedes 1-2 with a near four-tenth margin to team-mate George Russell in FP1 and pipped McLaren’s Lando Norris to top the times again in FP2.
The seven-time F1 champion’s positive practice pace went against recent precedence as Mercedes has been unable to match its main rivals since the summer break.
However, Hamilton’s encouraging showing has heightened his optimism that he will have a package to rebound from a challenging weekend in Brazil last time around.
“Yeah, pretty good,” Hamilton reflected. “It’s the first time I’ve had a day like that this year.
“The car was feeling really good in FP1, in FP2, less so. So we have got some work to do overnight.
“It’s difficult to know exactly where we are or why we are where we are.
“But I’m really enjoying driving the track and I think we will see whether the car is still the same tomorrow.”
Mercedes requires race pace improvement
But Hamilton has warned that Mercedes has work to do overnight on improving its race pace without compromising the W15’s apparent potent pace over a single lap.
“The hot conditions are a little bit worse for us, but the race pace is not that great,” he admitted.
“So we’ve got to figure out how to get better race pace without losing actual pace throughout the lap.
“But as I said it was nice to get consecutive sectors and the car not throwing me off which was nice.”
Hamilton never doubted he had lost his speed
Hamilton, though, insisted he isn’t planning to make sizeable tweaks to his car, as he claimed that he never had doubts he had lost the edge despite his miserable run.
Asked whether he thinks Mercedes is in the mix, Hamilton replied: “I think we’re there. I’m feeling good in myself. Coming into this weekend I know it’s not my driving.
“So I just got to work hard overnight not to make big changes. Get some good rest tonight and come back strong tomorrow.”
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