Lewis Hamilton Explains Mercedes Is One Step Behind After Subpar Performance in Hungarian GP Free Practice

Lewis Hamilton did not have a very good run during the first two practice sessions of the Hungarian GP while his teammate George Russell delivered solid results. Following his performance in free practice, Hamilton explained that Mercedes does not have a car fast enough to beat its rivals. Nevertheless, he remains optimistic for qualifying and race day.

Mercedes recorded two back-to-back wins in Austria and Silverstone and is looking to extend their streak with the Hungarian GP this weekend. The same is the case with Hamilton who won his last race at the British GP in front of his home crowd after two seasons.

Speaking on the car’s performance, Hamilton said, “Today was not our best day of the season. However, we have some ideas on why the car was not at its best.” He further explained that the team will work on it and make some improvements.

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Hamilton finished P10 in FP1 while Russell recorded P4. In the second free practice session, Hamilton improved to P7 while Russell dropped to P5.

Russell echoes Hamilton’s words

Even though Russell delivered a better performance than Hamilton in terms of pace, he agreed that Mercedes was not as competitive to beat its rivals. The young Briton explained that the rising temperature at the track played a crucial role in their performance as well.

The temperatures were over 35 degrees Celsius at the track. This played well for McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari as they they locked the top three spots in the second session of Free Practice.

“The McLarens and Red Bulls looked very fast today, we know we have ground to catch up. We don’t seem to be as competitive in these intense heat conditions, so we need to understand how things are,” said Russell. Moreover, Russell added that the team gathered a lot of data and will analyze it tonight to define a strategy for the rest of the weekend.