- 22 Jun 12, 16:07#308503
Lewis Hamilton reckons he is 95% away from where he wants to be with his car after Friday practice at the European Grand Prix, but is confident he can rectify most of his problems ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
Hamilton set the 14th fastest time in second practice, 0.813s off pacesetter Sebastian Vettel, and said most of that was down to an erroneous setup choice. He said he was a long way from where he wants to be with his car and the tyres, but is sure he can find a fix for Saturday.
"I'm about 95% away from where I want to be with my car at the moment," he said, "but I'll get that 90% overnight."
Asked whether his struggle was down to the track conditions, Hamilton answered: "The track's normal, it's the same as it was in the last race. It's just setup and again the tyres were a bit of problem for us today, but we'll fix it tomorrow."
He added: "I didn't have a very good day today. It was just a bit of a struggle really, I tried a couple of different things with my tyres and it didn't work. I feel quite confident that I can make some changes to put me back in a better position tomorrow. I don't know why there's such a big gap to the lead four, on Jenson's side I don't know what problems he was having, but on my side we were having a lot of problems. We'll fix it for tomorrow and I think we'll be fine."
Hamilton said qualifying would be crucial for him as he does not fancy his chances of coming through the field on a one-stop strategy.
"I think you've got to be on the front row here [to win]," he said. "But then again this season is showing, particularly in the last race, that if you start further back and make your tyres last and do fewer stops than the guy in front, then you're in for a good shot of being in front. But that's not on the cards for us, so I have to make sure that I qualify up the front."
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Maybe McLaren have indeed 'centralized' both the Canada's winning cars' and 16th place cars' setup.
Hamilton set the 14th fastest time in second practice, 0.813s off pacesetter Sebastian Vettel, and said most of that was down to an erroneous setup choice. He said he was a long way from where he wants to be with his car and the tyres, but is sure he can find a fix for Saturday.
"I'm about 95% away from where I want to be with my car at the moment," he said, "but I'll get that 90% overnight."
Asked whether his struggle was down to the track conditions, Hamilton answered: "The track's normal, it's the same as it was in the last race. It's just setup and again the tyres were a bit of problem for us today, but we'll fix it tomorrow."
He added: "I didn't have a very good day today. It was just a bit of a struggle really, I tried a couple of different things with my tyres and it didn't work. I feel quite confident that I can make some changes to put me back in a better position tomorrow. I don't know why there's such a big gap to the lead four, on Jenson's side I don't know what problems he was having, but on my side we were having a lot of problems. We'll fix it for tomorrow and I think we'll be fine."
Hamilton said qualifying would be crucial for him as he does not fancy his chances of coming through the field on a one-stop strategy.
"I think you've got to be on the front row here [to win]," he said. "But then again this season is showing, particularly in the last race, that if you start further back and make your tyres last and do fewer stops than the guy in front, then you're in for a good shot of being in front. But that's not on the cards for us, so I have to make sure that I qualify up the front."
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Breaking News:Lewis Hamilton has officially overtaken The Fonz in race wins. With 88 races less. Lol(Without a specially built blown diffuser, illegal front wing, preferential treatment)