Lewis Hamilton obtains a difficult top 10 after the practice of the SAUDI F1 in mute

Lewis Hamilton says he will do well to get into the fourth quarter of Saudi Arabia after a discreet Friday in which his Ferrari obtaining in the optimal window has proven to be difficult.

Hamilton finished 13th second training, held at the same time of the day as a qualification and the race, sending six tenths to the Ferrari Charles Leclerc teammate and 1.1 to the main McLaren of Lando Norris.

Although there is no cause of alarm after Friday training, Hamilton was not too optimistic about his chances of finding a breakthrough on a tower.

“I’m just trying to see if I get the top ten right now,” he sighed. “Not the biggest, we find it difficult to make the tires work.

“Normally, Saturday is retreating, but there are not many things back so that I can from where I am. So I hope that at night, we will bring improvements to the car. There were a few pieces through the session that felt good, and (when I) will arrive at the soft tire, it is not.

“So, we will make changes overnight and hope that tomorrow we can come back a little stronger.”

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo of: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

As was the case earlier this season, Hamilton and Leclerc sampled different installation directions to collect as much data as possible, Hamilton, considering heading to the configuration of his teammate overnight.

“Perhaps,” he thinks about the idea before disappearing for its debriefing with the Scuderia. “We will work together this evening to see, because through the two sessions, we were trying different things on the two cars to then converge; parameters of the wings and all kinds.

“So, I hope we will have a better understanding after analyzing this evening and hoping for a better day.”

Leclerc was also not shy to experiment with the configuration of his SF-25, which includes a tailor-made rear wing for the long straight lines of Jeddah, so he estimated that there was more performance on the table.

“We have done a good job by exploring different options and it is quite clear in my head what I want to do, so we will go in this direction and I hope it will be paid once we have qualified,” said the Mongasque.

“We have changed the car a lot, but it was a very positive day because I learned a lot. And I think that once we have put everything in the right window, there should be a little more performance leaving the car.”

Photos of the Saudi GP – Practical