Hamilton wants more performance on long runs

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton sounded a positive note after the opening day at Monza, but he still wants to improve his car’s performance in high-fuel configuration.

Lewis Hamilton managed plenty of laps on the opening day at Monza, and looked quick, particularly in second practice, topping the late one-hour session.

The seven-time world champion was left delighted after the opening day, but he indicated that Mercedes needs to fine more performance in high-fuel configuration.

"I’m happy that Kimi was OK as that was a big accident. The main thing that matters is that he was OK. In terms of our car performance, it’s been a good day.

“This new tarmac and the smoother kerbs have presented an interesting challenge, but the car has felt good from the start. There seemed to be some graining up and down the field in FP1 and people struggling with the tyres. We made some solid changes ahead of FP2 and the car took a step forward in that final hour.

“There’s still some work for us to do overnight both here and at the factory, particularly around the long run, so we can be as competitive as possible over the rest of the weekend,” concluded Wolff.

After Andrea Kimi Antonelli had endured a high-speed crash in FP1, George Russell had to watch on as his car was repaired. He got going late and was out of sync, thus his fastest time isn’t fully representative.

"Firstly, I’m glad to see that Kimi was OK. It’s never nice to see a crash that size and the first thing that matters is that he wasn’t hurt. The mechanics did a great job to get the car ready for FP2. We got a good 30 minutes of running before and after the red flag so a big thank you to them.

"The car seems to be looking good. Lewis did a great job to top the timing screens. I had a couple of push lap efforts at the end of FP2 but was mainly focused on the long run.

“The resurfaced track meant that it looked to be ramping up quite a lot throughout the day. We need to be alive to it evolving over the rest of the weekend. We’ve got a lot of good data to go through, even though it wasn’t the most productive Friday I’ve ever had on my side