Lewis Hamilton (did not drive/5th)
The seven-time world champion isn’t holding out much hope of beating the rest of the field this weekend. So far, it looks like Mercedes is racing the third fastest car in France.
“Today we were fourth and fifth. This roughly corresponds to the positions we will be fighting for. I don’t mean we can’t finish on the podium. We are just not as fast as the rivals in front. We have a bigger loss than in the last race.
De Vries did an excellent job in the morning. He kept the car in one piece and drove well. I’m happy for the work he did. However, we still have a lot of room for improvement.
The car here is not exactly breathtaking, we need to find out why. Hopefully we can improve it by tomorrow. We’re losing all the way. We lack pressure. But overall it wasn’t bad, I also have to think about how the boys feel, who are even further back.
Overall, I have to say that the current generation of cars is not nearly as good in terms of grip compared to the previous one. At the same time, it is the first year, so I believe that it will improve in the future. But we have work to do,” Hamilton admitted.
Nyck de Vries (9./nail)
George Russell (4./4.)
The young Brit left both training sessions. However, after completing Friday’s program, he is of the opinion that Mercedes will not be able to win in France.
“The racing simulation is better in our presentation than the qualifying one. We just have to make sure we prepare our car perfectly for tomorrow. We don’t want rivals from the middle of the field to get between us and the four fastest cars.
Ferrari seemed to struggle more than us, Max looked fast as usual. As far as the chances of winning are concerned, we are rather outsiders. We lose more than we would like.
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