Formula 1: Hamilton surprised by Mercedes pace after topping first two practice at Las Vegas GP

NEVADA — Lewis Hamilton, whose 11 year tenure with Mercedes comes to an end after three races in the 2024 season of Formula 1, was left pleasantly surprised with his car’s performance as the seven-time world champion finished both practice sessions at the top of the timesheet at the Las Vegas Street Circuit on Friday.

The 39-year old beat the likes of Ferrari and McLaren to clock the fastest lap of the day as drivers up and down the grid struggled to extract performance around the low-grip track.

“Difficult to know exactly where we are or why we are where we are but really enjoying driving the track and I think we’ll see whether the car is the same tomorrow. The race pace is not that great so the work we have to do overnight is to figure out how to have better race pace without losing actual pace throughout the lap. But it was nice to get like consecutive sectors, and the car not throwing me off which was nice,” Hamilton was quoted saying by Formula1.com

His team mate George Russell was similarly impressive, finishing in P2 and P3 across the two sessions to indicate that the Brackley outfit are the initial team to beat as they prepare for tomorrow’s qualifying hour.

The British duo have had a somewhat topsy-turvy season, achieving race wins and podium finishes while simultaneously struggling to find any steady pace from track to track, occasionally even failing to make it into Q3.

Russell was also taken aback by their satisfying results on the first day at the chilly, dusty Las Vegas circuit.

“I’d love to tell you why to be honest, we are scratching our heads a little bit as to why it was so positive,” he explained. “Of course, it was only practice. Lewis did a really great job out there as well, he’s been really on it since Lap 1 today, the car has just been working.

“But we are on a street track, it is really dirty, it’s going to get faster and faster each lap. Because we were fast today it doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to replicate it tomorrow, the track will be probably three seconds faster,” said George.