‘I’m just slow’ – Lewis Hamilton makes Mercedes admission after British GP practice

Lewis Hamilton has admitted Mercedes have “got some work to do” at the British Grand Prix after the seven-time World Champion said he was “just slow” over team radio in FP2.

Mercedes claimed their first F1 victory since November 2022 at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, where Hamilton ‘s team-mate George Russell capitalised on a dramatic collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes ‘just not as fast’ as McLaren at Silverstone

Russell’s win came after Mercedes’ form had improved considerably over recent weeks, with Russell and Hamilton finishing third in Canada and Spain respectively last month. Russell also set pole position in Montreal behind the wheel of the much-improved W15 car.

Mercedes once again showed flashes of pace in practice at Silverstone, where both cars were a fixture in the top 10 across FP1 and FP2.

However, Hamilton caught the attention towards the end of the second session when he commented over team radio: “The track is fine, I’m just slow.”

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Norris, who set the pace in both sessions, highlighted Mercedes as potentially the biggest threat to McLaren this weekend, claiming Hamilton and Russell “seem probably just as quick as us” despite not showing their true pace in FP2.

Yet Hamilton, whose fastest lap in the afternoon session was 0.653 seconds slower than Norris’s, is convinced that Mercedes are “just not as fast” as the likes of McLaren at this stage of proceedings.

He said: “It felt fine. It generally felt good, just not as fast as the guys ahead, like the McLarens.

“We don’t have upgrades this weekend. We have some small tweaks to things but not necessarily upgrades.

“But every time we add something to the car, we are going in the right direction, but the others are bringing upgrades at the same time.

“We were six-and-a-half tenths off in that one. I don’t know if it’s truly, exactly six tenths but we’ve got some work to do.”

Russell agreed with Hamilton’s assessment, suggesting that McLaren and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen are currently “a step ahead” of Mercedes, whose battle appears to be with Ferrari as things stand.

He said: “FP1 was a strong session with the car feeling great. FP2 was a slightly more challenging hour and we need to pick through why that was.

“It was much windier and I don’t think we got the tyres in the right window, so that could explain a chunk of it.

“The conditions are likely to change across the weekend, with more rain possible too, so we will have to be adaptive. I hope the fans didn’t get too wet this afternoon; as always, it was fantastic to see their support in the grandstands.

“After today’s running, I’d say that the competitive picture looks similar to the past few races. McLaren and Max look a step ahead and it’s close between ourselves and Ferrari.

“We will work hard overnight to try and take a step forward and see where that leaves us tomorrow.”

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