Despite seeing his second practice session come to an early end with a small hydraulic issue and the fact his qualifying simulation was ruined by a large lock-up at turn one, Lewis Hamilton felt the opening day of practice for the Singapore Grand Prix was a largely positive one for both himself and Mercedes AMG PETRONAS.
The reigning World Champion finished fourth fastest in the first session before falling to seventh in the second, mainly down to his lock-up on his qualifying sim, and remains upbeat about his chances this weekend with the pace of the team much stronger than it was twelve months ago.
“Two relatively good sessions today,” admitted Hamilton. “We had a small hydraulic issue at the end of FP2 but it doesn’t look like anything serious.
“The guys are working on it and it should be fine for tomorrow, which is the main thing. Our pace looked okay today. Definitely much better than last year so I’d say we’re looking relatively strong.”
Hamilton had his first taste of running the Halo head protection system in the first session, and revealed that it slightly affected his view of his mirrors, which was his only gripe about the system.
“Running the halo was no real issue,” said Hamilton. “I barely noticed it, to be honest – just in my mirrors, where it blocked the view slightly.”
