Hamilton criticises F1 for 'pretty impossible' sprint schedule

Lewis Hamilton believes it will be "pretty impossible" to develop a good set-up in the sole practice session ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

Austin is the fourth sprint race of the season, and is the first of three in the next five races with Sao Paulo and Qatar also featuring the adapted weekend schedule.

On normal race weekends, drivers have three hours of practice in three sessions before qualifying and the race, but for 2024, the sprint format was adapted to feature a single practice session on Friday before sprint qualifying then takes place, with cars entering parc ferme conditions.

This is then kept for the sprint on Saturday morning, before it is relaxed ahead of grand prix qualifying, with cars then re-entering once qualifying begins as normal.

In 2023, Hamilton finished second in the US Grand Prix, but was disqualified for excessive plank wear, partly put down to the ride-height being too low due to the team not being able to adequately being able to set the height due to the reduction of practice time.

Reflecting on the 60 minutes of running, Hamilton felt it was an extremely tough task.

"It's pretty impossible unless you're just lucky and [the car] works from the get go," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365 when asked how difficult it is to fit in the usual practice running into just one session.

"Last year we came here and didn't have to change much, the balance was sweet from the get-go, but nine, nine-and-a-half times out of 10, that is not the case.

"It is difficult, but everybody is in the same boat, that puts on a lot of pressure and a lot of focus is on simulations. 

'Our simulations haven't been ideal in the past year or so, but we are constantly working on them. Some others put their cars on the track and it just works straight away - and we're definitely hoping that we are.

"We've definitely made more than enough mistakes and learned hopefully that we are able to start on a better platform."