Lewis Hamilton and George Russell agree about Mercedes' Singapore GP chances

16 September 2023 , 07:00

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Lewis Hamilton was very happy with how his Mercedes car performed on Friday (Image: Sky Sports)

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were left beaming after "a great day" on Friday.

Both Mercedes cars were performing well in practice ahead of this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix. Both Silver Arrows drivers were in the top six at the end of both sessions to raise hopes of a good result on Sunday.

It meant both drivers were smiling as they shared their optimism at the end of the day's running. "It's been a great day here in Singapore. FP1 was solid," said Hamilton, who has regularly struggled on Fridays this season.

"We were still a little bit of where we wanted to be, but it wasn't too bad. FP2 was for sure the best FP2 session I've had this year. It was nice to finish a Friday feeling so positive.

"I think we've got a good platform to build off for the rest of the weekend. It's the best I've felt from a Friday this year. I hope we can do some good work overnight, as we always tend to do, and continue to improve."

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Russell concurred, adding: "It was a very positive Friday for us overall. The car is feeling really good around the circuit. It definitely improved in the cooler temperatures of FP2 but equally, it still felt decent in the slightly unrepresentative conditions of FP1.

"The times were very tight between several cars. Ferrari looked quick, particularly on the single lap. The long run performance across a number of competitors was also strong but we can be optimistic heading into the weekend. We will do our usual work overnight and hopefully find some improvements heading into Saturday."

He wasn't wrong about Ferrari – the Italians were first and second by the end of both sessions to raise expectations for the Scuderia this weekend. Charles Leclerc was quickest in FP1 while Carlos Sainz swapped places with him in the second session of the day.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes will take further encouragement from Red Bull's struggles over the course of the day. Sergio Perez reported over the radio that he was struggling for rear grip, while Max Verstappen was honest about how uncertain he was feeling.

" A little bit worse than expected today, struggling a lot with the balance of the car," the Dutchman said. We tried a few things in FP2 – some worked, some didn't, but we never really got the car together. There are a few things to figure out tonight. There are a few things that we don't understand, so that's what we have to look into. I will try to improve, but it's quite a big gap. Ferrari is very fast, I think we're just way worse than expected."

Daniel Moxon