Lewis Hamilton admits the struggles Mercedes had versus Ferrari and Red Bull were largely expected as the German manufacturer sat as the third best team in practice at the Hungarian GP.
The Briton along with the teammate Valtteri Bottas finished fifth and sixth in both sessions as they suffered from a lack of grip, particularly on the Ultrasoft tyre where errors in the final sector meant neither set a representative lap time in Practice 2.
Typically, the high downforce set-up combined with high temperatures have made this one of Mercedes’ weaker tracks, with just one win during the turbo-hybrid era for Lewis Hamilton in 2016, and challenging for the victory this year currently looks a tall order.
“It has been a relatively normal day,” the world champion claimed. “As we expected, the Ferraris and the Red Bulls were quite quick and had a little bit more pace than us, so we’ve got some work to do tonight.
“This is a tricky circuit and the tyres are overheating; looking after the rear tyres is the biggest issue.”
Still, as his victory last weekend from 14th on the grid at Hockenheim proved, anything is still possible and Hamilton is far from ready to give up.
“We will do our debrief now and dig deep to try and figure out what changes we make between now and tomorrow,” he added.
“I hope we’re able to find something tonight, and that tomorrow is dry so we can test whatever changes we make overnight.”
The additional power modes Mercedes and Ferrari have at their disposal for qualifying is still a concern for Red Bull though, and Bottas highlighted the importance of starting as high up the grid as possible.
“It is difficult to overtake here, so track position is very important and the less stops you can do is always going to be better,” he stated.
“Red Bull and Ferrari are as quick as we expected; I think it’s going to be very close.”