Friday: Hamilton narrowly first for Mercedes AMG F1
While the Englishman secures first place, Rosberg is further back but claims that his W05 Hybrid is performing very well.
Lewis Hamilton (No. 44) – 2nd and 1st
After making a few changes between the two sessions, the Englishman was not really satisfied with his settings: Whether it was the fault of these changes or the track itself, the balance didn’t seem right. I feel like we lost a bit of performance, but we’ll take a closer look at what it was tonight.
However, his race pace seems correct to him and qualifying will be crucial on this winding track. He states: Here, the Pole has always been very important. For example, the left side of the grid always seems to get the best starts. Being ahead will be crucial, and that will obviously be my goal for qualifying tomorrow.
Nico Rosberg (#6) – 3rd and 13th
The world championship leader finished far behind in FP2 due to a red flag following Pastor Maldonado’s accident, but he finds his car fantastic.
He then focused on long stints: « We decided to do more laps with a full fuel load to prepare for the race and overall, it was good. It will be tough with the degradation of the softer tires so we still need to work on that. But in general, it’s a big challenge to drive here. It’s one of the most difficult tracks and battling through all these corners and bumps – especially aboard this fantastic Silver Arrow – it’s an amazing feeling. »
