Lewis Hamilton: Overheating tyres "not happy in these conditions"

Spanish Grand Prix

Hamilton: Overheating tyres "not happy in these conditions"

Tyres struggling, but Hamilton reports no signs of blistering from Friday practice long runs

Sam Hall

Friday 14 August 2020 18:24

Lewis Hamilton topped practice two from Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas but says the tyres are "not happy" in the roasting Spanish conditions.

Hamilton topped practice two by a margin of two tenths from Bottas. Over the course of a single lap, the W11 once again has close to a one-second advantage over the chasing pack, but on race runs to picture changes somewhat.

Tyre problems at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix ultimately cost the Silver Arrows victory, Max Verstappen and Red Bull able to manage the Pirelli rubber better, but Hamilton is cautious of a repeat of these problems.

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Speaking after practice two, Hamilton said: The tyres are not happy in these conditions, so you’re just sliding around on overheating tyres.”

He added: “I didn’t see any blistering but we didn’t see blistering last Friday either so, I really can’t say too much.

“It felt okay. I think, we’re just about to do a debrief so I’ll find out where we stand in that respect, but the long run didn’t look too bad. I don’t know how much further we could go as opposed to how much further Red Bull could go compared to us, and that will determine whether or not it’s a one or two stop this weekend.”

Describing the day as "tough" Hamilton commented on the threat of Red Bull in the grand prix on Sunday, saying: “It’s been a good day, particularly the second session was better for me, and then the long runs, we looked very close with the Red Bull so I think it’s going to be a really close race.”

Bottas gave similar feedback on the tyre conditions, but added that the rough track surface was also causing issues.

“At least today no blistering," said Bottas. "The tyres were, this kind of rough track, the tyres are wearing instead of just blistering. I think for us it’s not a good thing but I’m sure we’ll – we did long runs with all the compounds today so there’s going to be lots of learning points before we start racing.”

Before you go...

Verstappen predicts a close race despite Mercedes' one-lap pace advantage

Hamilton leads a Mercedes one-two in practice two for the Spanish Grand Prix