'It feels like a race car for once' - Lewis Hamilton ‘shocked’ by Bahrain practice pace

Lewis Hamilton has reflected on a strong day for Mercedes as he topped the timesheets in second practice 🍰for the𒈔 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W15. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 1, Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir, Bahrain,
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W15. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 1, Bahrain Grand…

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton has admitted Mercedes’ impressive pace in second F1 practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix was a “sho🅰ck”.

Hamilton topped the second, more representative, practice session at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of Mercedes teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell.

The༺ seven-time world cha💃mpion dominated the session, remaining at the top of the timesheets for the entirety of it.

While it did seem Red Bull and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen enjoye🐼d a clear advantage during the race simulations, Mercedes have made clear progress compared💜 to last year.

Reflecting on the day’s running, Hamilton said he’s “much happier with the car” and the change in seating positi♓on is benefit♑ting him already.

“I am much happier with the car this year,” Hamilton said. “The se🐻ating position𒈔 is finally further rearwards.

“I've got a better feel for the car approaching the corners but there are other are𝐆as that have been fixed and improved.🅘 It feels like a race car for once.

“The last cars didn’t feel like that. It’s a re💖ally good platform for us to work on but we’ve just got to keep our hea🍸ds down and keep on chasing.”

Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W15. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 1, Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir, Bahrain,
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W15. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 1, Bahrain Grand…

Like Russell, Hamilton doubts Mercedes will have the pace to chal🐈lenge Verstappen for the win on Sunday, conceding there’s “a lot more work to do” on the race setup.

“This has🔥 been a crazy Friday [Thursday],” he added♚. “P1 was very, very windy this morning so it was a really difficult session for everyone.

“This track was so different compared to testing last week. It wꦗas feeling OK but we didn’t know where we stood on the C2 tyre and then in this session, we made s😼ome improvements over the session. 

“It’s a shock to see us𒁃 where we are but we will take it for now, but we can't get aheadꦅ of ourselves.

“We need to keep our heads down, keep working on the setup, extract more. Our long run pace is nowhere near the Red B🎀ulls and we were a lot closer - so a lot more work to🅘 do there.”

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