Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes are still lagging one-second behind Formula 1 rivals at the Singapore Grand Prix, despite being quickest in the first practice sessions. Singapore's Marina Bay circuit had been earmarked as Mercedes' best chance of scoring a pole or even win owing to the high downforce nature of the circuit - something that has played to the strengths of its W13 in 2022. Hamilton topped his first session of the season in FP1, and was fifth in FP2 having not got a clean lap due to traffic on his first qualifying simulation effort. Despite going P1 for the first time since FP3 of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton was not expecting a realistic Mercedes challenge over the rest of the weekend.
Hamilton not expecting Mercedes challenge
"It started off well but wasn't as great in the second session - so pretty much like every other weekend," he explained to media including RacingNews365.com. The car is as it is, and bouncing around like crazy. It doesn't feel like we're massively off this weekend, but we're still probably a second down I would say, something like that. "We have just got to keep working on it."
Bouncing left Hamilton with headache
"There's not really much we can do with the bouncing, it's just as it is," the seven-time World Champion added. "Setup wise, I definitely think George [Russell] was able to find a little more time. "I think there's definitely more time on my side, and I just didn't really get a good lap. "I think with the setup, I had a lot of locking but we'll fix it tonight and give it a better try tomorrow. "[I'm] definitely a little bit dehydrated after that session, it's so hot, very hot. "But it's not the biggest problem, like not the physicality side of it, you're literally bouncing so much that you just have a headache all the time, and this is a very bumpy track. "So if you just watch my on-board and see my helmet I don't have any feelings anymore. I lost them earlier in the year."
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