Hamilton concern for Abu Dhabi 'roll of the dice'

Sam Hall
Friday 18 November 2022 16:18

Lewis Hamilton has conceded the sensitive Pirelli tyres mean qualifying in Abu Dhabi will be a 'roll of the dice' after struggling in second practice.

Mercedes ended Friday at the Yas Marina circuit with George Russell second fastest and seven-time champion Hamilton fourth.

Although quickest in FP1, Hamilton claimed to have endured a difficult time in the second session after set-up changes failed to yield the expected results.

“P1 felt pretty good," said Hamilton. "P2, the balance was quite a bit off. I made some changes between the sessions and they just weren’t the right ones.

“It was a bit of a struggle in P2 with a lot of oversteer, and that was mostly my limitation.

“We’ll make some changes overnight but otherwise, we’re relatively competitive. We’re right there.”

Hamilton airs qualifying worry

Mercedes has enjoyed a resurgence in form since introducing its final upgrade package of the season in the United States, with Russell scoring the team's first win of the year last time out.

But Hamilton has concerns over his single-lap ability in qualifying, with the softest tyres in Pirelli's catalogue proving tricky to manage.

“P1, you could do a slow lap and the tyres would come in but in this session, you had to do a much faster out-lap to get the tyres ready," he added.

"It’s like you’re rolling the dice hoping you’ve got them ready. Sometimes you lose, and sometimes you don’t.

“But then in the last sector, usually the rears are going off.”