'It's Shock': Hamilton Reacts To Surprising Pace Mercedes Showed In FP2

Thursday, 29 February 2024 at 20:00

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton shared his thoughts with the media after the Mercedes-dominated Free Pratice 2 session in Bahrain.

The second free practice session on Thursday was the only one of the three practice sessions that took place in the evening.

As qualifying and Grand Prix races are also in the evening, the second practice session simulated the conditions most similar to what drivers will face later on Friday and Saturday.

Consequently, all the teams and their drivers pulled out soft compound tires to go for a few qualifying simulation laps. Surprisingly, no one came near Lewis Hamilton, who set the fastest lap almost three-tenths clear of the first non-Mercedes driver. He told Sky Sports:

"Yeah, this has been a crazy Friday. I was late this morning. And, yeah, P1. I was surprised it was very, very windy this morning. So it was a really difficult session for everyone."

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The conditions on the track were very challenging for drivers. Many lost their rear or locked up several times going into turn number 4 and turn number 10.

"This track was so different compared to practice last week. Otherwise feeling okay. We didn't really know where we stood on the C2 tire. And then in this session, yeah, the car, we made some improvements over the session."

Hamilton admitted it was a shock to see where Mercedes stands with their pace as he previously claimed the team is not where they want to be.

"Again, I don't understand. It's a shock to see us where we are. We'll, we'll take it for now, but we can't get ahead of ourselves."

Nevertheless, Hamilton stayed neutral ahead of the season's first qualifying session and race as he suggested Red Bull is still expected to perform better in the race and that is where Silver Arrows need to improve.

"We need to keep our heads down, working on the setup and try to extract more. I think our long run pace is not nowhere near the Red Bulls, for example. So I think we've got somewhere to do that."