Lewis Hamilton was left disappointed with the performance of the Mercedes W14 car in Friday practice for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix. The seven-time champion had finished P2 in the opening practice session behind teammate George Russell, raising hopes of a solid performance from the team in Miami. However, the team failed to match the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari in the qualifying simulations in FP2, with Hamilton falling back to seventh place and Russell down in P15. The Briton had an off-track moment at the Turn 14-15 chicane, along with other moments where the car was suffering in the low-grip conditions. Speaking after second practice, Hamilton cut a disappointed figure as he was asked what he had learned in Friday's running.
"The same as every weekend, that we're one second down," Hamilton told media. "There are lots of positives, it's just we're not particularly quick, and it's a struggle out there. We're just trying lots of different things. "P1 looked quite good, and then to come into P2 and the true pace come out. It's just kick in the gut. "So, it's a little bit difficult to take sometimes, but it's okay, we'll just keep on working on it and we'll regroup tonight and try and see if we can make some setup changes and get the car in a sweet spot." Hamilton went on to describe the specific difficulties in the afternoon session. "I think it's maybe the heat or maybe just the balance that we have at the moment," added Hamilton. "I'm gonna stay optimistic, and I'm gonna stay hopeful that we can get the car in a better place tomorrow and maybe a couple of steps up. "It feels like, apart from last year we had the bouncing, it generally feels like we're racing pretty much the same car, and that's the difficult thing."
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