After topping the timesheets in both practice sessions on Thursday night at the dazzling Las Vegas circuit, Lewis Hamilton was left mystified by Mercedes’ surprisingly strong pace.
The seven-time world champion beat the likes of Ferrari and McLaren to clock the fastest lap of the day as drivers up and down the grid struggled to extract performance around the low-grip track.
His team mate George Russell was similarly impressive, finishing in P2 and P3 across the two sessions to indicate that the Brackley outfit are the initial team to beat as they prepare for tomorrow’s qualifying hour.
The British duo have had a somewhat topsy turvy season, achieving race wins and podium finishes while simultaneously struggling to find any steady pace from track to track, occasionally even failing to make it into Q3.
2024 Las Vegas GP FP2: Onboard with Lewis Hamilton for the fastest lap of second practice in Nevada
Asked about the positive start to the weekend in Las Vegas, Hamilton said: “I mean that’s the first time I’ve had a day like that this year so. The car was feeling generally good in FP1, in FP2 less so.
“Difficult to know exactly where we are or why we are where we are but really enjoying driving the track and I think we’ll see whether the car is the same tomorrow.
“The race pace is not that great so the work we have to do overnight is to figure out how to have better race pace without losing actual pace throughout the lap. But it was nice to get like consecutive sectors, and the car not throwing me off which was nice.”
He added that “I know it’s not my driving” that has been causing the team’s inconsistency issues, targeting another strong result in qualifying – with Lando Norris just 0.011s behind him in FP2 and Ferrari looking quick, the frontrunners are far from predictable.
Hamilton and Russell will be aiming to improve on their respective P7 and P8 finishes from the 2023 Las Vegas GP
Russell was also taken aback by their satisfying results on the first day at the chilly, dusty Las Vegas circuit, describing it as “pleasantly surprising”.
“I’d love to tell you why to be honest, we are scratching our heads a little bit as to why it was so positive,” he explained. “Of course, it was only practice. Lewis did a really great job out there as well, he’s been really on it since Lap 1 today, the car has just been working.
“But we are on a street track, it is really dirty, it’s going to get faster and faster each lap. Because we were fast today it doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to replicate it tomorrow, the track will be probably three seconds faster.”
Russell has claimed two pole positions this season, in Montreal and Silverstone
He went on to dismiss the so-called trend of Mercedes looking good on track on day one before losing out to their rivals during qualifying, calling it “not quite fair” that this perception has reared its head several times over the season.
The Briton said: “It’s more of a function that our competitors don’t use their high power, they might be running more fuel than us on Friday so historically, they are sandbagging a little bit more and when they take it off, they go into their normal position.
“You know, for sure there’s a possibility that will happen again tomorrow but the gap we showed this morning and this evening has been pretty substantial but I’m sure the rivals will work hard overnight and close the gap, I just hope we can continue the form.”
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