Hamilton ready for “serious challenge” of F1 Eifel GP with limited practice
Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is ready for a “serious challenge” during the remainder of the Eifel Grand Prix after Friday practice was scrapped.
Poor weather conditions and low-lying fog resulted in both 90-minute practice sessions being delayed, and then ultimately abandoned, due to the medical helicopter being unable to fly to the nearest hospital.
The double cancellation meant that drivers were unable to get in any running around the Nurburgring during F1’s first visit to the German venue in seven years.
With conditions forecast to be particularly cold and wet for the entirety of the weekend, world championship leader Hamilton is braced for a challenging weekend ahead.
Asked if Friday’s disruption makes for a more exciting weekend, Hamilton replied: “Definitely, especially if it stays like this.
“Hopefully with clearer skies, but in the wet, it definitely makes it a serious challenge with less practice, so I look forward to that.
“It’s definitely frustrating to miss out on days like this,” he added. “We probably wouldn’t have got a lot of running in, because we are limited on tyres and it’s probably going to stay like this all weekend.
“But I would have loved to have gone out, even just for an install lap. But with the helicopter, we’ve been grounded. Everyone is in the same boat.”
Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas expressed his frustration on missing out on vital running and stressed that both he and the team will need to be efficient to ensure they extract the most out of the weekend’s sole-remaining practice session on Saturday morning before qualifying.
“It’s a bit of a day wasted,” Bottas explained. “So we need to be really efficient with what we do in practice three tomorrow.
“Obviously we had to change the original plan as today was compromised, so we will really need to make the most of it in terms of short runs for the qualifying and long runs to gather data for the race.
“As a driver, you need to be quick to pick up on things and be efficient.”
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