{"id":23759,"date":"2024-08-30T15:23:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T19:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=23759"},"modified":"2024-08-30T15:23:43","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T19:23:43","slug":"f1-news-hamilton-optimistic-after-friday-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/08\/30\/f1-news-hamilton-optimistic-after-friday-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News: Hamilton optimistic after Friday practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lewis Hamilton topped the timing sheets in Friday practice, finishing just 0.003 ahead of Norris. The 7-time Champion was the only Mercedes<\/a> to get clean running, as Kimi Antonelli crashed in FP1 – which limited George Russell’s learnings. Still, Hamilton is satisfied with the W15’s initial performance.<\/p>\n

Hamilton optimistic, but Mercedes must be vigilant<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mercedes work to optimise upgrades<\/h4>\n

Although Mercedes don’t have any major upgrades this weekend, they are still learning about the W15<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The current version of the Mercedes W15, which made its debut in Zandvoort, is largely unknown to the engineers in Brackley.<\/p>\n

To be clear, the car produced the downforce that Mercedes anticipated in the wind tunnel.<\/p>\n

Crucially, though, the Silver Arrows faced a similar issue to what Ferrari encountered earlier in the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With this generation of cars, downforce is not always positive for performance. It can inadvertently make the car more unpredictable for drivers, upsetting balance and costing lap time.<\/p>\n

This is partly what prevented Mercedes from fighting for a podium in Zandvoort, as the team’s set-up failed to put the W15 in a good operating window.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>