Although George Russell ended day one of the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend second fastest, Mercedes know they need to extract more speed from the W15 after a practice day of mixed fortunes for the team in Jeddah.
Fernando Alonso topped the timing screens in the Merc-powered Aston Martin which bodes well for the German manufacturer, with George Russell P2 there was reason for optimism, but on the other side of the garage, it was a bleak day for Hamilton, ahead of his final Saudi GP driving for Mercedes.
In the team report, Mercedes trackside boss Andrew Shovlin was under no illusions: "We've covered quite a range of set-ups over the course of the day. Ultimately, it doesn't feel like we've ended up with either car in the best place.
"The single lap was messy and compromised by traffic. A cleaner session would have helped but we're also lacking a bit of grip in the high-speed. We will be looking overnight at solutions to that.
"Our long runs weren't very long either, which wasn't ideal. From the limited date, we have reasonable pace but neither driver was happy with the overall balance. The summary therefore is that we've got lap-time to find overnight. The positive is that we have plenty of areas to go looking for it," added Shovlin.
Russell: Not too sure yet where we're at on the long runs
Happiest of the two Mercedes drivers was Russell who reported: "It was fun to be back on the track here in Jeddah. It's a really high-speed circuit so that's enjoyable. We didn't have the car in the perfect window and FP2 was a little bit of a scrappy session.
"The times looked good on the single lap, and we're not too sure yet where we're at on the long runs. We did a lot of testing in FP1 with different setups across the cars. We then made some changes for FP2 to try and learn more about the W15.
"It's still very early days; it's only the second race of the season and the second circuit we've ran at in anger. We need to keep on building on our learnings and everyone will be hard at work overnight to eke out more performance. It's so close once again so let's see what we can do," concluded Russell.
Hamilton: George was clearly in a happier place with the car
In contrast, it was frustration for Hamilton in the sister car: "It was a difficult day. I was lacking a little confidence in the rear of the car. We did some work on the set-up from session-to-session and changed the car quite a bit.
"The main issue I was struggling with in both FP1 and FP2 was still the rear though. I had a few big moments out there and on such a high-speed track like this, you need to have full confidence in that. I haven't quite got that yet.
"We'll go through the data tonight to see how we can improve. George was clearly in a happier place with the car. We went in slightly different directions so hopefully, we can learn from that and find the right solutions," added Hamilton.
In Bahrain last Saturday, Mercedes flattered only to deceive after Russell Qualified P3, but had to settle for P5 in the race and Hamilton Pz, with race winner Max Verstappen 46.7s up the road in his Red Bull. Round 2 of the 2024 F1 World Championship takes place in Jeddah on Saturday.
(Additional Quotes from Agnes Carlier in Jeddah)
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