“I’m quite optimistic”– Lewis Hamilton is delighted with Mercedes dominating the second free practice session and would capitalize on it.
From Monaco onwards, Red Bull gained momentum in the championship race against Mercedes until the British Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton and have almost levelled the field.
During the two free practice sessions of the Hungarian GP, Red Bull and Mercedes dominated the FP1 and FP2 respectively, but with Mercedes amassing both P1 and P2 in the latter session, Hamilton has gained some confidence for the rest of the week.
“To see Valtteri and me just on the front row pace-wise, I think that’s great for the team, and we’ll only improve on that,” Hamilton said. “So we’ve got some work to do tonight to try and see how we can finesse the car a little bit more, but it’s a good start.
“[I’m] quite optimistic with the extreme temperatures right now. I’m optimistic because I think we can definitely improve the car balance-wise. And if we can do that, it puts us in a better position for the race as well.
“But of course, it’s much nicer to drive when it’s cooler. These tyres are not happy, most of the time anyways, so they definitely don’t like this temperature.”
Mercedes riding hot in warm temperatures
Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas shared his satisfaction with Mercedes gaining over Red Bull, with Verstappen complaining about the unstable rear. But for Bottas, the track on Friday was a Finnish sauna but claims Mercedes made progress in the hot temperature.
“I think lately we’ve been making improvements when it’s hot,” Bottas said. “It’s not so bad. Today is proof. I don’t think we’re in a bad place. But you never see all the cards from other teams on Friday.
“I have to say in practice one, with the balance, we had quite a lot of work to do, but we quickly reacted, and it starts to improve quite a bit. But I’m sure there’s still more to come tomorrow, no doubt.”
“It’s good to see that most likely we’re going to be in the fight for pole tomorrow, so that’s really motivating.”
