Hamilton feels Mercedes are closer than he expected after practice

Lewis Hamilton has reversed his comments from Wednesday after he was surprised at how well the Mercedes car performed in practice. He said, "we're closer to Red Bull and Ferrari than I expected."

The World Champion was adamant on Wednesday that his Mercedes would only be third best this weekend in Monaco. Whilst he averaged around half a second slower than the dominant Red Bull's, he beat both Ferrari's in FP1 and was just a tenth down on Vettel in the afternoon session. 

Meanwhile, team-mate Valtteri Bottas seemed to struggle finishing 7th and then 6th in the two sessions. 

“I said yesterday the Red Bulls were going to be quick which they were today," a surprised Lewis told reporters. 

“As expected, we struggled a little bit more.

“The car felt good in some places, in others, it felt bad.

“So we have got some things to work on, but we’re not completely in the dark; we’re in a much better place than we were last year.

“We’re closer to Red Bull and Ferrari than I expected, but we’re still a few tenths off.”

The hypersoft tyres seemed to make a major difference. After Lewis Hamilton managed to heat his first set, he produced the fastest time of the session after just an hour of FP1. Whilst this time was eventually beaten twice over by Red Bull, it just goes to show how different the hypersoft reacts. 

“The HyperSoft felt good, but it doesn’t last very long," added Lewis. “It looks good for qualifying but could be interesting in the race.”