Hamilton fears tyres during qualifying: "Like rolling a dice"

Mercedes came out on top on Friday in Abu Dhabi during the first free practice, but during FP2, Max Verstappen was a class act. Hamilton therefore looks back on a two-part day.

The times the team was able to drive also felt good, according to the seven-time world champion. That is, there was very little going on and the W13 was realistically fast, but in FP2 that changed slightly. Hamilton said in a press statement, "In FP2, the balance was a bit off, so we need to adjust some things overnight, but we looked reasonably competitive."

Qualifying will be tough according to Hamilton

After the first day, Hamilton can say mostly sensible things about the next day. For example, the Briton has his thoughts on qualifying, which takes place on Saturday after the third practice session: "Tyre management for qualifying will be difficult. In FP1 you could still do a slow run to get the tyres going, but in FP2 it took much longer. So it will be like rolling a dice."

As for the rest of the weekend, Hamilton is still in the dark. The Mercedes driver mainly hopes to fight at the front again, as he did in Brazil. Hamilton concluded his message with a thank you for the whole year: "Thank you to everyone at the factory and here at the track who have done so much work with so much dedication all year."