03/06/2023
NEWS STORY
Despite the much-anticipated upgrades to the W14, Lewis Hamilton fears he will struggle to make it through to Q3 at Barcelona.
Though the upgrade, which includes the dropping of the team's controversial zero sidepod layout was introduced in Monaco, the characteristics of the track didn't give a realistic picture of the difference it made.
Seven days later, and on a 'proper' track, the difference was hardly earth-shattering.
"We're fighting as hard as we can," said the seven-time champ following the opening session in which he finished 12th and 11th, while his teammate, George Russell, finished 10th and 8th. "I would say it was a difficult day one, P1 and P2, just getting on top of the tyres and the deg. Our car feels like...
"We're just focusing on... I think the long-run pace didn't look terrible," he continued, "we've just got to work on trying to figure out how we can extract more on a single lap.
"I think from the pace that I had today, it's a struggle for me currently to get into the top ten," he admitted, "but hopefully we'll do some changes overnight.
"I think it's very, very close between us and that middle kind of... after P5 back to kind of P10 it's really, really close between us all and it's impressive to see all the improvements that everyone seems to have made all around us.
"If you look at Ocon, the Alpines are doing great. You saw the Aston Martin in second, right behind the Red Bull, which is really, really impressive. It's not going to be easy, that's for sure.
"I'm just going to try and do the best job I can tonight to make the right set-up changes. There's definitely improvements I know I can make with the set-up, so I'll get on top of that."