Despite not topping either free practice session on Friday at the Hungaroring, Lewis Hamilton feels there is more pace to be unlocked in the car, which he feels will be important as three teams appear to have strong cars this weekend.
The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team racer ended up third fastest during the morning session but fifth in the second session, with the three-time World Champion a little over three-tenths of a second down on Daniel Ricciardo in both sessions.
Hamilton feels that Ricciardo’s Red Bull Racing team, as well as the Scuderia Ferrari team look to have similar pace this weekend, but he hopes to usurp them all during qualifying on Saturday, should the W08 balance issues be ironed out.
“It wasn’t the easiest start to the weekend, with the conditions very gusty,” said Hamilton. “We end the day in fifth but there’s clearly good pace in the car.
“It’s super tight between Ferrari, Red Bull and ourselves at the top of the leaderboard, so it’s looking like it will be an exciting weekend. That should be good for the fans!
“There’s some more work to do overnight to fine-tune the balance to get the car just where we want it and I believe the pace is in there. We just need to unlock it ahead of qualifying because every tenth is going to be crucial with three teams in the mix.”
