Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver in Bahrain after the first two free practice sessions, something which, apparently, came unexpectedly for the seven-time world champion.
He admitted that the conditions were difficult at the start of FP1, when there was a lot of wind and the feeling was different compared to last week’s testing. Despite that, Mercedes managed to improve throughout the day, and it was “a shock” for Hamilton to see where both cars finished at the end of the day (P1 and P2 in FP2).
“This has been a crazy Friday, I was late this morning,” said Hamilton. “FP1, we were surprised, it was very windy this morning so it was a pretty difficult session for everyone, the track was so different compared to testing last week.
“Otherwise, it was feeling ok, but we didn’t really know where we stood. But we made some improvements over the session, I don’t understand… it is a shock to see us where we are, but we will take it for now.”
Despite being happy with the result, the seven-time world champion knows it’s only the first day of the new season, and the team must continue to work to keep up the good momentum.
“We can’t get ahead of ourselves, we need to keep our heads down, keep working on the set-up, and try to extract more.
“Our long-run pace is nowhere near the Red Bulls, so we have got some work to do there.”
Hamilton also added that the feeling with the W15 is much better now, and he is “happier with the car”.
“I’m much happier with the car this year. The seat position is finally further rearwards, and I’ve got a better feel for the car approaching the corners.
“But there are other areas that have been improved, and it just makes it feel like a race car, for once. The last two cars didn’t feel like that.
“It is a really good platform to work on, and we have just got to keep our heads down and keep on chasing.”