Doom and gloom for Lewis Hamilton at the 2023 F1 Italian GP after a 'pretty similar Friday to most Fridays'

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton looked disheartened after a tough Friday at the Italian GP and lamented a performance that he said was "pretty similar" to most Fridays.

The seven-time world champion finished P17 in the FP2 session after he and the team decided to make some changes to the rear wing of the W14. During his lap time, it looked like he was running the bigger rear ring in the low-drag Monza circuit, which was costing him over one second from the lead.

He and the team could not find a quick solution and struggled throughout the season. Speaking with PlanetF1, Lewis Hamilton said:

“Pretty similar Friday to most Fridays. It started off really well in FP1, was genuinely quite happy with the car and then they made changes. Usually when you got into FP2, can’t figure out why, but the car seems to be more of a challenge in FP2. I’m sure it’s something we can rectify overnight."

“We’ve got 1000 things we can change. So it’s just knowing which ones those are and what the actual real issues are, whether it’s mechanical, whether it’s tire temps, aero balance, we’re going to figure that out tonight. I didn’t run my soft tire just because the balance wasn’t so good. So I just thought I would save it for tomorrow."

Lewis Hamilton added:

“So I have two new softs tomorrow, so others will have one new and used, and the focus will be to see what we can get out of the tire, whether we prepare the tire properly, and if we can extract the full performance from it, and just try dialing in the balance.”

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Lewis Hamilton hopes for a better balance ahead of qualifying

Lewis Hamilton has said that he hopes that he can find a better balance ahead of the all-important qualifying session on Saturday, where he can be quicker than he was in the first two practice sessions.

As per F1.com, the Mercedes driver said:

"There’s lots of learning from today, and we will have a bit of work tonight to try and improve for Saturday – as we always manage to do. I know that the team will do great work overnight to improve the set-up and car balance so that we can be quicker tomorrow.”

The Monza circuit may not suit Mercedes as it is a low-downforce track and does not offer much in terms of medium and high-speed corners. So it would be fascinating to see where Lewis Hamilton ends up qualifying for the main race.