F1 News: Lewis Hamilton shocked by Mercedes pace after 'CRAZY Friday' (on Thursday)

Bahrain Grand Prix

Hamilton shocked by Mercedes pace after 'CRAZY Friday' (on Thursday)

The Brit topped FP2 at the Bahrain Grand Prix

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Thursday 29 February 2024 22:57

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton appeared bewildered by his Mercedes' pace in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Hamilton and George Russell were the two fastest drivers in FP2, putting small but potentially significant gaps between themselves and the rest of the field.

This was despite all of the pre-weekend chat pointing to Max Verstappen and Red Bull continuing their supreme dominance from 2023.

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Verstappen could only manage sixth in both FP1 and FP2, while his team-mate Sergio Perez was even further off the pace, finishing 10th and 12th in the two sessions.

It is unclear quite what fuel setting Red Bull were running compared to their competitors and any optimism should be caveated by the fact that Red Bull looked ominous during pre-season testing.

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"This was a crazy Friday," he told Sky Sports, clearly confused by the change in structure of the weekend.

"I was late this morning. I was surprised it was very very windy this morning so it was a really difficult session I think for everyone, the track was so different from there to the test last week.

"We made some improvements over the session. I don't understand, it's a shock to see us where we are but we'll take it for now. We need to keep our heads down, keep working on the set-up and try and extract more."

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Daniel Ricciardo