Miami Grand Prix: Mercedes practice pace ‘kick in the guts’ says Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes ‘desperately’ need upgrades

Mercedes' Miami Grand Prix practice session pace was “a kick in the guts”, according to Lewis Hamilton, who claims his team “desperately” need car upgrades. Hamilton was seventh fastest and 0.928 seconds off the pace of leader and world champion Max Verstappen on Friday. Ad «It's a kick in the guts and it's a little bit difficult to take sometimes,” Hamilton said.

Miami Grand PrixRussell quickest at FP1 after dismissing 'pathetic' Verstappen spat15 HOURS AGO »We desperately need those upgrades. We have to keep our heads down for one more race and hopefully we will start a new path next race." Mercedes are set to reveal a major car development at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on May 19-21. George Russell and Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two in a positive start for the team in FP1, but team principal Toto Wolff warned of what might be to come after the first practice session.

«The car has some goodness, it is just very tricky to unlock it,” he claimed. “When the drivers have confidence, they can go quick. »It is on a razor's edge.

This morning we seemed to be in a sweet spot. I don't think we can extrapolate from this." Hamilton proceeded to drop to seventh, while Russell plummeted to a disappointing 15th in the second practice session, 1.286s off Verstappen's pace. «Same as every weekend — we are a second down,” Hamilton said.

“[Miami] is a great place to be but we are not particularly quick and it's a struggle out there. P1 looked quite good but in P2 the true pace came out. »I am going to stay hopeful that we can get the car in a better place.