Lewis Hamilton has admitted Mercedes could struggle with forecast rain heading into Saturday's qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps after describing the first day of the Belgian Grand Prix as “pretty bad”.
Despite a much-improved W15 with new updates at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday, Mercedes finished a second behind leaders McLaren at the end of second practice, the longest lap in F1.
George Russell was sixth fastest, while Hamilton suffered problems on the soft tyres when the fastest lap time was set in the second session, and finished 10th, 0.2 seconds behind his teammate.
“That was a really bad day,” Hamilton later admitted.
“I really don't know what to say! I've definitely felt good in the last few races, but today was completely different.
“We worked on it. The first session was not good, but in the second session we made some changes and it was good at the beginning, but when we got to the soft tyres we couldn't improve and we had a lot of balance problems throughout the laps.
“I got better this session, but other people did better, so being 1.2 seconds behind isn't good.”
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David Croft and Karun Chandhok were on SkyPad to look back on Friday's practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Friday's run was unaffected by the weather, but the entire race weekend, held on the fast, twisty Belgian track in the heart of the capricious Ardennes forest, is rarely affected by the weather, with rain expected on Saturday.
Hamilton admits rain could save Mercedes, given Friday's evidence.
“It's fantastic, because if the weather were dry right now, we wouldn't be in the best position we could be,” he said.
“But I'm sure we can make a difference overnight.
“If it rains it will open up a little bit and hopefully do better. I think the car will be better in wet weather than in dry weather.”
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Hamilton said the conversation between him and Lando Norris was not a problem for him and he did not take it personally.
Russell aims for comeback win over rivals over weekend
Russell admitted that McLaren and Red Bull are still the teams to beat, as he did at the Hungaroring last week, but hinted that the former may have been running at the highest output engine mode compared to the other teams.
The Briton hoped Mercedes could improve their set-up over the weekend to close the gap.
“We've got some work to do tonight. I think McLaren are definitely ahead of us at the moment, and Red Bull too,” Russell said.
“So you have to keep evaluating and go from there.”
He added: “I've only been out of the car for 10 minutes so I'm looking at long-distance speeds with a lot of fuel in the tank. And the McLaren is at full power and on this track it's at two-tenths of that.
“So (Saturday) is definitely a different day and I'm sure we'll find a bit more tonight. But we've often had really good Fridays and other people have caught up on Saturday, so hopefully we can do that this weekend.”
Belgian GP live schedule on Sky Sports F1
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the Belgian Grand Prix over the years.
Saturday July 27th
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11:15 AM: Belgian GP Practice 3 (Session starts at 11:30am)
1:10pm: F2 Sprint
2:15pm: Preparation for Belgian GP qualifying
3pm: Belgian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 28th
7:25am: F3 Feature Race
8:55 AM: F2 Feature Race
10:40 a.m.: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Belgian GP Preparation*
2pm: Belgian Grand Prix*
4pm: Checked Flag: Belgian GP Reaction
5pm: Ted's Laptop
*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 action continues this weekend with the Belgian Grand Prix, the last race before F1’s summer break. You can watch every session from Spa-Francorchamps live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month membership – no contract, cancel anytime
