Lewis Hamilton getting a top 10 challenging after muted Saudi F1 practice

Lewis Hamilton says he will do well to get into Saudi Arabia’s Q3 after a low-key Friday in which getting his Ferrari in the optimal window proved challenging.

Hamilton finished 13th in second practice, held at the same time of day as qualifying and the race, shipping six tenths to Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and 1.1s to the leading McLaren of Lando Norris.

While there is no cause for alarm after Friday practice, Hamilton wasn’t overly optimistic on his chances to find a breakthrough over one lap.

“I’m just trying to see if I’m getting the top ten at the moment,” he sighed. “Not the greatest, we were struggling to get the tyres working.

“Normally, Saturday goes backwards, but there’s not a lot backwards for me to go from where I am. So, hopefully overnight, we’ll make some improvements to the car. There were a few bits through the session that felt good, and [when I] get to the soft tyre, it’s not there.

“So, we’ll make some changes overnight and hope tomorrow we can come back a bit stronger.”

As has been the case earlier this season Hamilton and Leclerc sampled different set-up directions to gather as much data as possible, with Hamilton considering moving towards his team-mate’s set-up overnight.

“Possibly,” he mulled over the idea before disappearing for his debrief with the Scuderia. “We’ll work together tonight to see, because through both sessions we were trying different things across both cars to then converge; wing settings and all sorts.

“So, I’m hoping we’ll have a better understanding after we analyse tonight, and hoping for a better day.”

Leclerc also wasn’t shy of experimenting with the set-up of his SF-25, which features a bespoke rear wing for Jeddah’s long straights, so he felt there was more performance on the table.

“We’ve done a good job by exploring different options and it’s pretty clear in my head what I want to do, so we are going to go into that direction and I hope that it will pay off once we get to qualifying,” the Monegasque said.

“We changed the car a lot, but it was a very positive day because I’ve learned a lot from it. And I think once we put everything in the right window, there should be a bit more performance coming out of the car.”