Lewis Hamilton was at the wheel of the W08 during the afternoon and added 79 laps to team-mate Valtteri Bottas’ 70. He finished sixth with a lap time of 1:20.702.
The agenda for the day was to aerodynamically evaluate a number of new parts affixed to the car and complete further data gathering on Pirelli‘s new range of tyres.
Hamilton finished the afternoon without any hiccups, and filled with a sense of euphoria for what he does.
“It’s been a pretty good day, nice and smooth with no issues,” he said. “There is still a lot of work to be done but on the whole, it’s been another productive day for the team.
“F1 is always fun. The cars are always amazing. But this car… it’s faster and it’s more of a challenge to extract everything from it. I love that I get to do this.”
The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver’s fan base is rarely far from sight and today was no different, with flags and banners waving enthusiastically in the crowds.
“It was really great to see the fans with their banners in the grandstand this afternoon, so a big shout-out to everyone who came out to support us today,” he added.
