Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton finished Friday's practice sessions as fastest man, having topped the times on the soft tyre during the afternoon session, but believes that Pirelli have brought too hard a tyre selection for this weekend. Pirelli have brought the C1, C2 and C3 compounds for this race, the hardest of their range, and a full step harder than what was used for the opening two races in Bahrain and Italy. Despite him going a tenth clear of Red Bull's Max Verstappen to lead the way, Hamilton admitted to struggling for grip and confidence throughout the entirety of the day with gusty winds and a low-grip track surface being to blame. "I think everyone looks like they're struggling with their balance out there today," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365 afterwards. " So it's difficult to say whether or not it's the car or it's the wind or track but it's definitely been a real challenge today to keep the car on track." Pointing the finger at the harder tyre compound selection, Hamilton said: "It generally feels like we came here last year, the tyre was too hard. And [we] come here again this year with the tyre, same tyres pretty much and they're even harder this year. [New Pirelli 2021 construction] "So, it feels like we've come with the too hard a compound in my opinion, I think it should be the mid range, C2 3 and 4, but everyone's on the same one. So, you know, we'll get through it somehow."
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