Hamilton ‘just seeing if I can get in the top 10’ as Ferrari man left dejected in Saudi Arabia

Lewis Hamilton cut a dejected figure after struggling to 13th fastest in Free Practice 2 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, conceding he is currently focusing on reaching the top 10 for the rest of the weekend.

Aside from his victory in the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton has struggled to get to grips with the Ferrari SF-25 following his high profile move – finishing behind team mate Charles Leclerc in all four Grands Prix so far this term.

READ MORE: FP2: Norris tops the times during second practice in Saudi Arabia as Tsunoda crashes

Although a failure to get a clean run on soft tyres in FP2 exaggerated his issues on the timing screen, Hamilton looked a step off Leclerc in both Friday sessions, with his team mate ending the day in fourth.

“Not the greatest,” said Hamilton when asked to assess his day. “I think getting the tyres working today was the issue from our side.

“It’s nothing to do with the team, it’s just we were struggling to get the tyres working.”

Despite the chance to make improvements ahead of FP3 and Qualifying, Hamilton didn’t see this as much of a positive, reflecting: “Normally on Saturday it goes backwards, but there’s not a lot of backwards for me to go from where I am. Hopefully, overnight we will make some improvements to the car.

“There were a few bits through the session that felt good and just once we get to the soft tyre, it’s not there.

READ MORE: Norris and McLaren 'not as comfortable as what we would like' despite topping practice in Saudi Arabia

“We’ll make some changes overnight and hope tomorrow we can come back stronger.”

Asked what could be possible across the weekend, Hamilton said: “I don’t know. For me, I’m just seeing if I can get in the top 10 at the moment.”

Having found himself just 0.482s off Lando Norris’ session-topping 1m 28.267s effort, Leclerc offered a more positive outlook on Ferrari’s prospects for the weekend.

“It was ok. It was a tricky day,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a very challenging track where confidence needs to be very high in order to perform at your best.

READ MORE: ‘It’s not impossible’ – Hamilton expands on key area he’s looking to work on to get to grips with Ferrari car

“We changed a lot on the car, but it was a very positive day because I have learned a lot from it and I think once we put everything in the right window, there should be a bit more performance coming out of the car.

“But McLaren seems to be very strong once again, a lot stronger than us, but never say never. If we put everything together, anything is possible.”

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