Lewis Hamilton makes surprising “potential” claim after tricky Friday in Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton still thinks there’s “potential” in this year’s Ferrari despite a challenging Friday practice for the team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hamilton was forced to miss FP1 as Ferrari fulfilled their rookie driver appearance quota.

When Hamilton returned behind the wheel of the SF-25, he set the 14th-fastest time in FP2, 0.8s off the pace. 

He lost the majority of his time to pace-setter Lando Norris in the final sector of the lap.

Hamilton is still without a podium this year for Ferrari and has failed to score points in two of the last three races.

Despite a demoralising run of form, Hamilton still has “hope” he can end the season on a high if Ferrari can make improvements in several key areas overnight.

“I still have hope that there’s potential in this car. My question to the guys is that there are certain issues that we have,” Hamilton explained after FP2 in Abu Dhabi.

“I am like ‘these are my problems, help me fix them’. What can we do to improve our ride? And the bouncing that we have, then the understeer. If we can fix those going into P3 then I think we can be in a slightly better position.

“The first and second sector I was right there pace-wise wasn’t so bad. It’s just when I got to third sector, I was losing like seven-tenths.

“If I can fix that tomorrow then I think we can do better.”

Hamilton “thankful” after Friday practice

Overall, Hamilton’s move to Ferrari hasn’t lived up to expectations.

While Ferrari have failed to give him or Charles Leclerc a race-winning car, Hamilton has struggled to adapt to life at Maranello.

Leclerc has scored 100 per cent of Ferrari’s podium finishes this year - seven in total. 

Hamilton’s only highlight was the China sprint race, which he won from pole.

Hamilton was asked how he was feeling after his final Friday in the SF-25. Grinning, he simply replied: “Thankful”.

Hamilton conceded that missing FP1 put him on the back foot, combined with a difficult in-car balance.

“No, I feel OK. Obviously, Arthur did a good job this morning,” he added.

“It’s always cool to watch youngsters come through and do what they do, and see them shine. Ultimately, it puts whoever misses the session a little bit on the back foot.

“I did my best to get up to speed as quick as possible and faced with quite a difficult balance in the session. That’s something we have to improve.”