Hamilton: 'It was a challenge for me, are not where we want to be'

Where the first two free practice sessions in Mexico went fairly smoothly for Max Verstappen, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton had more trouble with his car. The W14 was not very strong at the beginning of the season but seems to be getting more and more competitive. Still, the Briton did struggle. He explains why.

Hamilton after first two free practice sessions in Mexico

"It's been a challenging day for me today, the car felt completely different to what it felt like in Austin a week ago and we need to understand why. We didn't show the most competitive long-runs, so we've been focusing on trying out different set-ups. The track here has its challenges, but we have done well here in previous years," he explained.

"So, we're not yet fully where we want to be ahead of tomorrow, but we will work hard overnight to improve and make necessary changes. The car showed a promising pace in Austin and I'm confident we can get it to a good place here and there's plenty of room for us to improve," Hamilton concluded.

Shovlin reacts to Friday in Mexico

Not only did Hamilton see that the W14 was not as it was at COTA, but Technical Director Andrew Shovlin also saw that the car was not really running well. In the first free practice, Frederik Vesti drove in place of George Russell. The technical director reacted after the first two practice sessions.

"We've struggled with the car today and it wasn't the easiest introduction to a free practice session for Fred; Lewis was finding the car quite a handful, but Fred did a good job of getting through the test items, he didn't make any mistakes and had some fun driving the track here," the Brit explained.