Hamilton: “Ferrari seems to be doing very well here”

Lewis Hamilton starts off on the right foot Malaysia, closing the first free practice day of the second seasonal event in command. The pilot of the Mercedes he spent most of the Free 1 in the pits, due to an injection failure that the mechanics Brackley however, they managed to make the repairs in time for the second session, without having to replace the power unit.
The reigning world champion was thus able to join the rest of the group in mid-afternoon, scoring only 16 rounds - compared to 19 Raikkonen, second – but pocketing the fastest lap.

“The guys did a fantastic job allowing me to get back on track in the afternoon, especially because the conditions here are really tough, so I thank them very much,” were the first words of Hamilton at the end of the day.

“This is not an easy circuit and the high temperatures make tire management difficult, so it is never a good thing to lose part of the time available for Free Practice. Fortunately, however, I managed to string together a series of good laps at the end, during a longer stint. In terms of car set up there was no time to make any changes: I took to the track with the single-seater as it had been prepared for the race Melbourne. It definitely needs a bit of fixing, so I think there's still a little room for improvement. We have to work hard since the Ferrari It seems to be going very well on this track. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow,” concluded the British driver.