Heat Tests Mercedes F1; Hamilton Strong, Russell to Improve

Despite intense heat, Mercedes F1 showcased resilience with Hamilton leading and Russell tackling hurdles.

Mercedes F1 concluded the first day of testing at the Italian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time. The seven-time world champion edged ahead by three-thousandths of a second from a McLaren and a tenth from a Ferrari, anticipating a tightly contested race.

“It was terribly hot in our car. I’m not quite sure why. Around the radiator, it was probably a hot air leak.”

“It was extremely hot. It felt like sitting in a sauna without shorts, a great discomfort.”

Hamilton was buoyed by the pace of the W15, describing the day as positive, with the car “improving progressively” throughout the day.

“It was a good day. On the whole, I felt quite comfortable. It’s obviously new tarmac. It was a bit of a challenge along with all the new curbs. The car performed well right from the start. In FP1, there was a lot of graining. People were having issues with the tyres, us included. We made some good changes during the break. The car kept improving during the session. There’s still some work to do on a few elements, some areas.”

The seven-time world champion also cautioned Mercedes against making radical adjustments to the car’s settings after a promising Friday.

“I feel good. The work we’re going to do tonight, the work we’ll do in the simulator, is going to be very important. We really need to be careful with the settings to avoid taking the car out of its comfort zone as we’ve done too often in the past.”

George Russell had limited track time as he awaited repairs to his car, handed over to Andrea Kimi Antonelli during FP1, before hitting the track. A stoppage further disrupted the second half of FP2, leaving him with scant data to work with for now.

“I’m glad to see that Kimi is okay; it was a big accident. The mechanics did a great job repairing the car, I was delayed but managed to get about half an hour of running,” said Russell, who was benchmarking for Hamilton with the older aerodynamic package.

“The car seems to be fast, Lewis did a great job and was leading. But I need to review things on my side because I only managed three or four flying laps; it wasn’t the most productive Friday I’ve had.”

“They’ve altered the circuit, resurfaced it. It’s improving with each lap; there’s degradation, but it could get better by Sunday. I need to see what I can do; we had the old parts for FP2, and Lewis had the new package. I’ll have it tomorrow too.”

Antonelli is “frustrated” by his “mistake”

For his part, Antonelli was disappointed to have made an error on just his second timed lap: “Frustrated, yes, disappointed, obviously.”

“What a day. My first free practice session. Yes, unfortunately, it ended quite quickly due to the crash. It was quite severe, about 52G (Wolff reported 45G).”

“And yes, really sorry for the team and George for making them work against the clock afterwards to repair and get as much track time as possible in the limited time available.”

“From my side, it was just a mistake on my part, just pushed a bit too hard for the conditions. And yes, I should have built up the run a bit more progressively, but it’s certainly a lesson to take away for next time.”

“I’m still very grateful to the team for making this possible. And it’s always great to see all the tifosi at the track and to do the first laps with all the drivers on track.”

The weekend isn’t over yet for Antonelli. The Italian is also competing in Formula 2 this weekend, where he has qualified in 6th place for the main race of his home Grand Prix weekend.

“Yes, even though I’m not feeling very well right now. I’m just going to get back in shape tomorrow and try to rest tonight, focus on the rest of the weekend, as there are still a few races to go and we will still try to get a good result.”