'Tyres don’t like the temperature’ says Hamilton
F1 News
- Bevan Youl
Lewis Hamilton say that the ‘tyres don’t like the temperature’ after Friday practice at the German Grand saw teams struggle with high temperatures.
Hamilton finished third in both practice sessions behind the Ferrari’s but doesn’t feel that the team gathered much information due to the heat.
Mercedes struggled in Austria with high temperatures and cooling issues but that apparently isn’t an issue anymore.
The issue was trying to get the tyres into the optimum working range on track, something Hamilton struggled to do.
The Brit said after FP2: “It’s not been the best day in terms of the heat, but fairly straight forward otherwise.
“These tyres don’t like the temperature so very slow out-laps and they don’t last very long obviously.”
When asked if he had to push the car harder because of the temperature Hamilton felt he didn’t need to, it was just tyre temperatures causing issues.
“No more, or less. It’s just about trying to keep the tyres in the working range,” he added.
“They’re just always above the working range so it’s just overheating. That’s been the main issue today.
“Everyone is in the same boat.”
Hamilton hopes that a cooler change of weather will come, which would allow Mercedes to find the working range for the tyres.
He said: “But we’re hoping that the weather is not like this for the rest of the weekend.
“If it is going to rain on the weekend then this is kind of a waste of a day.
“I don’t feel like we learned much today anyway, it’s just it is so hot.
“If it is cooler on the weekend and it’s dry then nothing from today really applies.
“The tyres will come back towards us and everyone will be quicker and more comfortable on the track so we’ll wait and see.
“I love the rain so rainy days are always a good thing!”