Lewis Hamilton has revealed that Mercedes tried something "experimental" on his car in Free Practice 2 during what was a difficult opening day of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the team. Bouncing was a common issue for many drivers during Friday's practice sessions, but the Silver Arrows looked to be amongst those particularly struggling with the problem, which has affected them at previous races in the 2022 season. Hamilton admits that this proved challenging in Baku, and feels that the squad are facing the same issues that they experienced last time out in Monaco. "The hardest thing about today was the bouncing," Hamilton said after Free Practice 2. "We're hitting serious speeds at the end of the straight and bottoming out. We're facing the same problems as in the last race. "We tried something experimental on my car in the second session, it didn't feel great but at least we tried it and we got some useful data to go through."
Hamilton acknowledges that "solutions" are needed
After that "experiment", Hamilton thinks that the usual set-up will be in place for Saturday's running at the Baku City Circuit. The seven-time World Champion – who finished FP1 in sixth, and was P12 in FP2 – hopes that some answers can be found for the team's issues ahead of qualifying day. "We'll probably revert to the original set-up tomorrow," Hamilton explained. "I can't tell you one specific area which is costing us the 1.3 or 1.6 seconds difference to the front, a lot of it seems to be on the straight, but we need to get our heads down tonight and find solutions."
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