Mercedes is not alarmed following Lewis Hamilton’s issue in Austin
Dominant in terms of lap times, the Mercedes team did not have an entirely smooth day, especially for Lewis Hamilton, who ended FP2 early due to a hydraulic leak.
As often since the start of the season, Mercedes dominated both Friday’s free practice sessions. Lewis Hamilton finished ahead of Nico Rosberg each time, even though the gap narrowed from two tenths in FP1 to 3 thousandths in FP2.
However, aside from their usual dominance, it was the few technical issues experienced by Lewis Hamilton that dominated the aftermath of the first day. The championship leader suffered from a hydraulic problem and had to miss the last 15 minutes of the session, completing only a few laps in race simulation.
« There was fluid on the flat-bottom, » explained Hamilton to Sky Sports. « A kind of leak, but I don’t think it’s very important. It doesn’t help, but Nico completed a long run so at the team level we will have this data… and, in my opinion, I will have a better feeling during the race. »
The car was fine, we had to stop just in case. These are small issues that can happen. It’s better to have them today and I’m confident that we won’t have problems in the future, but you never know what can happen so we will take what comes our way. I don’t feel worried, it was just a shame to lose a bit of time which was important in understanding the long stints, the significant fuel loads, and the tires, he added for Crash.net.
Despite his four consecutive victories between the Italian and Russian Grand Prix, the Briton is wary of his teammate: « Nico seems very fast, it’s going to be very difficult, but I am ready for the battle. There will be a lot of fights this weekend but he is the fastest in terms of times. »
On the Mercedes side, the narrative aims to downplay the issues faced by Lewis Hamilton: “It’s a fairly small problem, we don’t know what it is yet, but it was a precautionary stop,” explained Paddy Lowe, the team’s executive (technical) director. “Reliability is a really important factor across the championship, but it becomes particularly so at this moment […] It’s a big challenge for us to ensure they finish the last three races.”
