06/05/2023
NEWS STORY
Second quickest in the opening session, it was only in FP2 that Lewis Hamilton became aware of the disappointing true pace of the Mercedes in Miami.
A constantly evolving track meant that it was impossible to pick any sort of definitive pecking order at the end of opening practice.
True, George Russell had led a Mercedes 1-2, but the Black Arrows were among the last to take to the track on softs, and certainly among the last to post times before the flag fell.
While the track continued to evolve in the second session, the order somewhat 'normalised', with Max Verstappen taking his usual place at the top of the timing sheet, however with the Mercedes pair seventh (Hamilton) and fifteenth (Russell), the reality of the W14's Miami pace became clear.
Asked what he'd learned from the day's running the Briton told reporters: "Same as every weekend... that we're a second down.
"It's a great weekend," he continued, "it's a great place to be, lots of positives, it's just we are not particularly quick. It's a struggle out there. We're trying lots of different things.
"FP1 looked quite good," he added, "and then we came into FP2, and the true pace came out... it's just a kick in the gut, it's a little bit difficult to take sometimes.
"But it's okay, we will just continue to work on it, we will regroup tonight and try and see if we can make some set-up changes and get the car in a sweeter spot."
Asked how he feels the W14 compares to the most recent outings in Australia and Azerbaijan, he said: "Melbourne obviously was night and day difference, it was much, much nicer to drive there. Baku felt better than here also.
"I think maybe the heat or maybe just the balance we have at the moment... I'm going to stay optimistic, I'm going to stay hopeful that we can get the car in a better place tomorrow and maybe be a couple steps up. But it feels like, apart from… last year we had hard-core bouncing and it genuinely feels like we are racing pretty much the same car, that's the difficult thing.
"I am trying to stay positive with it," he insisted. "We are working as hard as we can, it's just we desperately need upgrades, that's for sure. We've just got to keep our head down for one more race and hopefully we can start a new path at the next race."
Teammate Russell was similarly downcast.
"It was a similar thing last year," said the youngster. "We were quickest on Friday and then we were knocked out in Q2 on Saturday. The car just changed a little bit.
"Even from the medium run in FP2, I felt strong," he continued, "I was on a lap that was a good couple of tenths up, which would have put me inside the top four, and then we put the soft tyres on and the car just wasn't working for me.
"I think we understand a little bit why that is and fortunately we've got the time to make improvements overnight. But yeah, it's fine margins."
"I think if we get things right there's no reason why we can't be ahead of Ferrari and Aston Martin," he insisted, "that's the aim.
"We've seen in these first four races that it's really tight between those three teams. If only that was for the win and for pole position. It would be incredibly exciting. It's good because it shows that if we get things right we can be rewarded and jump ahead of them."
Check out our Friday gallery from Miami here.