Lewis Hamilton hopes Mercedes are “in the mix” at the end of the season for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as he admitted the start of his final weekend for the Silver Arrows felt “very surreal”.
Hamilton finished fifth fastest in Friday's representative second practice session under the floodlights at Jas Marina, a fraction behind Carlos Sainz in the leading Ferrari, although six tenths off pacesetter Lando Norris, amid McLaren's commanding start to the event.
The seven-time champion is racing as a Mercedes driver for the last time in 12 years ahead of his winter switch to Ferrari as the 2024 season draws to a close and, having endured a couple of troubled race weekends recently, is happy to take down his swan song. for a positive start.
“Today I felt better. “It wasn't such a bad day,” said an encouraged Hamilton.
“Very surreal and I just tried to be as present as I can today and just enjoy every moment from arriving to seeing the engineers and I really like to take moments and capture them as much as I can.
“Then to get ready and get in the car… and I really enjoyed the day. I really enjoyed driving the car today, working with the guys in the garage and the engineers.
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Highlights from Friday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice.
“We have a lot of work to do.
“It's never that easy to determine, but I think our long-term pace didn't look too bad today, so that's the big positive from today – I was a lot closer to the McLarens.” In one lap I think I have work to do.”
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Lewis Hamilton admitted he underestimated how difficult his final year at Mercedes would be and did not handle his emotions well ahead of his final race for the team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
With sincere acknowledgment on ThursdayThe Briton admitted he didn't always control his emotions in the best way during his final season at the Silver Arrows after announcing his shock switch to Ferrari before the start of the campaign.
Asked how he managed his emotions in the final weekend at Mercedes, Hamilton said: “There's no trick to it, I try to keep my emotions under control as much as I can.
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Catch a special two-part feature on Sky Sports this weekend celebrating 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton's incredible journey with Mercedes!
“I said (on Thursday), I haven't been great at it this year, I've definitely been up and down a lot – it's human emotion, it's normal – but I'm really trying to channel it in the car. in the team, the team I love the team very much and for years I want to do well for them, but for the last time.
“I'm not going to change too much in the car tonight and hopefully (in qualifying) we'll be there or thereabouts.”
Russell: McLaren in a league of their own so far
Team-mate George Russell is certainly ending the year in more consistently stronger form than Hamilton, but on Friday he finished three-tenths of a second behind his team-mate in 13th place on the Practice Two timesheets.
Russell – whose weekend started with a stormy reaction to Max Verstappen's critical comments about him in Qatar – said it ran experimental setups of the W15 on Friday.
“We struggled a bit today, but it's only Friday,” he said.
“We are trying a lot of things in preparation for next year. Obviously, this is our last chance and we wanted to go, shall we say, a bit more radical with some of the setup options to see if there was anything. the more we can learn.
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George Russell has hit back at 'bully' Max Verstappen after their penalty in Qatar, saying someone needs to stand up to the Red Bull driver.
“So hopefully (Saturday) will be a little bit more of a normal day and we'll go from there.”
While praising his teammate's efforts, Russell was more pessimistic about where the team finished on Friday's schedule relative to the top two teams.
“To be honest, Lewis did some great laps there and I think still, as a team, we're a long way from McLaren and Ferrari,” he said.
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Craig Slater takes a closer look at how the Qatar penalty clash between George Russell and Max Verstappen escalated after George branded the Red Bull driver a “thug”.
“McLaren in particular seem to be in a league of their own at the moment.
“Like I said, Lewis did a great job, but we're still four tenths behind McLaren, so it's bigger than we usually expect.
“So I expect Ferrari probably back in the mix, Max probably back in the mix, but hopefully we can make some improvements for tomorrow.”
Live Sky Sports F1 Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Saturday December 7th
8.10am: F1 Academy Race 1
10.15am: Third practice at the Abu Dhabi GP (session starts at 10.30am)
12.10pm: F2 sprint race
1.15pm: Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi GP
2pm: QUALIFYING FOR THE ABU DHABI GP*
4pm: F1 Academy: Race Two
5 pm: Ted's qualification notebook
Sunday, December 8
7.10am: F1 Academy Race Three
9.20am: F2 race in action
11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Line-up for the Abu Dhabi GP
1pm: ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
3pm: Checkered flag: Abu Dhabi GP reaction
4pm: Ted's notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Watch the final race of the 2024 Formula 1 season – the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – live on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday's race at 1pm. Get Sky Sports F1 or stream NOW
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