Friday in Monza showed a good potential in the Mercedes car for this weekend. However, both, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, complained about their seat being too hot when driving.
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Lewis Hamilton went fastest in today’s second free practice, showing that there might be some potential for a good result for Mercedes this weekend. In Zandvoort Mercedes finished only P7 and P8 on Sunday, leaving disappointed.
Today also didn’t start well for them as Kimi Antonelli crashed George Russell’s car in the first practice, after stepping in to make his F1 debut. Russell then wasn’t able to participate in the first 20 minutes of FP2 as the car wasn’t repaired yet after the big shunt.
Hamilton was pretty much happy with the car during Friday. "It's been a good day, it’s generally felt pretty good, but obviously the new tarmac has been a bit of a challenge, but the car felt good from the start," he told the media.
The only thing both of the Mercedes drivers complained about was a really hot seat during their time on track, especially in the second practice. Lewis Hamilton complained about it multiple times.
"It was ridiculously roasting in the car, and I am not quite sure exactly why. I think it might be down by the radiators there was probably some leakage of hot air, “ said Hamilton.
"It was very hot, like sitting in the sauna with no shorts on," he added.
💬 "Lewis had two strong sessions. The car seems to be working well, but there is not much to choose between the top few teams."
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) August 30, 2024
Shov, Lewis, George and Kimi debrief an eventful first day on track at Monza 👇
Mercedes is looking forward to this year’s Italian Grand Prix as they are mainly hoping to improve their results from last week and get back to the winning mode, like they were in before the summer break. The team will work hard to fix the problem with the overheating seat so both of the cars will be fully ready for tomorrow’s qualifying.
