Lewis Hamilton was in a relaxed mood after finishing second in both of the free practice sessions held on Friday at the Hockenheimring.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver was forced to settle for second best behind team-mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg in both sessions, ending more than three-tenths of a second shy in each.
Hamilton feels the team are in a good position heading into the rest of the weekend, and is looking to find out where exactly he and the rest of the team are during Saturday’s qualifying session in Germany.
“It’s been a very chilled Friday,” said Hamilton. “The weather has been good and the track feels great. It’s the original track surface, so it’s nice and bumpy and has lots of character.
“We had a fairly straightforward two sessions today. No real surprises and a good first step for the weekend. We’ll see where we are in qualifying tomorrow.”
Paddy Lowe, the Executive Director (Technical) at Mercedes admitted the team were worried mid-session on Friday afternoon about Hamilton potentially receiving a reprimand for exceeding track limits at turn one, and revealed they adjusted their running to avoid a penalty.
“There was a little bit of stress this afternoon with race direction concerning track limits at T1 – particularly concerning Lewis’ position with two reprimands already to his name – so we compromised our programme somewhat to ensure that he avoided a third,” said Lowe.
“Overall, though, it’s great to be back at the Hockenheimring and we’re looking forward to a good battle in qualifying tomorrow.”
