Hamilton issues worrying verdict after Spa practice

Lewis Hamilton has provided a bleak assessment of his day of practice at Spa-Francorchamps, stating his car felt “completely different” compared to recent events.

Mercedes has enjoyed an uptick of form of late, with Hamilton taking victory at the British Grand Prix earlier this month.

The seven-time world champion ended the second practice session from Spa-Francorchamps in 10th place well over one second down on session leader Lando Norris.

While Hamilton praised the changes made between the two practice sessions, he highlighted further work is needed to unlock speed.

“It was a pretty bad day. I don’t really know what to say,” Hamilton said. 

“It’s been feeling great at the past couple of races and it just felt completely different today. We worked on it, the first session was not great. 

“The second session we made some changes, it started off great but when I got to the soft tyre, I just couldn’t improve. 

“There’s a bunch of balance issues we had through that. It was better in that session, but everyone else went better. To be 1.2 seconds behind is not great.”

Hamilton hoping for Spa rain

Rain was forecast to hit the circuit on Friday, however only the early morning saw heavy rainfall at the venue.

Wet weather is often a feature of the Spa-Francorchamps track, and Hamilton is hopeful the slippery conditions will present itself during qualifying.

When asked about how he feels about the prospect of rain impacting running on Saturday, Hamilton replied: “Fantastic. 

“If it’s dry, we’re not going to be in the greatest of places. Overnight we can make some changes. If it rains, that opens it up a little bit and hopefully we can do a better job. 

“The car should be better in the wet than it is in the dry.”