Hamilton eager to avoid past set-up errors after setting practice pace · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes mustn’t repeat past mistakes setting their car up for qualifying after heading the first day of practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

His lap of 1’20.738 in second practice put Mercedes at the top of the times. However Hamilton was only three-thousandths of a second faster than Lando Norris in the McLaren.

Hamilton was pleased with his car’s performance at the resurfaced Monza circuit. However he said Mercedes need to be careful with their set-up choices for the weekend ahead.

“I’m feeling good,” he told the official F1 channel. “It’s going to be really important the work we do tonight, the work that’s done back at the factory on the simulator, so we really [must] tread carefully with the set-up so we don’t put the car too far out of bed like we’ve done in the past.”

Mercedes experimented with different floor specifications during practice today, comparing the latest version which they introduced at Spa with the previous design. Hamilton used the latest floor to set the quickest time while team mate George Russell with the older floor was three tenths of a second slower.

Hamilton said his car felt good throughout the day, though the conditions in the first session were more challenging as the relaid track lacked grip.

“Generally it felt pretty good,” he said. “Obviously the new Tarmac has been a bit of a challenge, and all the new kerbs. But the car felt good from the start.

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“Going through P1 there was a lot of graining, people were struggling with tyres, including us. We made some good changes over the break and the car was feeling even better in this session.

“So there’s still some work to do on a few things and few areas – I think ultimately for the long run, so that we can go the distance, I think that’s the challenge at the moment.”

The biggest problem Hamilton appeared to face was high cockpit temperatures, which both Mercedes drivers complained of during the second session. Hamilton said “it was ridiculously roasting in our cars” in practice.

“I’m not quite sure exactly [why]. I think down by the radiator there’s probably some leakage of hot air. It was very hot. Like sitting on the sauna with no shorts on. So, a pain.”