Lewis Hamilton “lost” after 'trying everything’ with Mercedes F1 car

Lewis Hamilton says he feels “lost” with his Mercedes F1 car after Friday practice at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion could only manage the 11th fastest time in second practice, nearly a full second slower than McLaren’s Lando Norris, who set the pace ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton was unhappy with his car’s balance and handling throughout FP2 and was regularly heard complaining of a lack of grip.

Despite “trying everything” with set-up changes, Hamilton admitted nothing made a difference to his W15.

“The car feels… It feels pretty… It’s very difficult,” Hamilton said after FP2.

“A very challenging day. We tried everything set-up wise and nothing seems to work with the set-up. Definitely very challenging, we really have given it everything and then you find out you are a second off.

“I think ultimately just a little bit lost and we’re not really sure where to put the car. We tried a lot and achieved the same thing.”

Asked where he feels Mercedes can realistically be in qualifying, Hamilton replied: “At the moment I won’t be going into Q3.”

Mercedes teammate George Russell also struggled on his way to seventh, before ending the session in the barriers at Turn 8 after locking his front right wheel.

“It was a really challenging Friday for us, we were really off the pace,” Russell explained.

“We need to understand why that is. I’m sure we’ll find some answers tonight. We made some big changes from FP1 into FP2 but the car is just not feeling that well connected as it was this time 12 months ago and as it was in recent races.

“So we need to try and get to the bottom of it.”

Both Mercedes were slower than the two RB’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, while Hamilton also ended up behind Alex Albon’s Williams and Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg.