A frustrated Lewis Hamilton said he was stunned and terrified by the treacherous nature of the track after finishing fourth for Mercedes in the opening practice for the Turkey Grand Prix this weekend.
The 35-year-old Briton, who aims to claim a record seventh world title on Sunday, said his training session at the Istanbul Park Circuit was “a minor disaster”.
“This is a fantastic circuit and I really don’t see why they are spending millions to come back on the track,” he said.
“I know it’s been sitting around for a long time, but maybe you could have just cleaned it up instead of wasting all your money.”
The track has not been used for a Formula 1 race in nine years since the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix and offered very little grip in cool and damp conditions.
“Now it’s worse than Portimao (Portugal) with its new surface. So the tires don’t work for us and you can see it’s like ice,” said Hamilton.
“You don’t enjoy the round as you would expect here in Istanbul and I don’t see any change.”
He said every lap is a very challenging experience: “It’s terrifying – across the board. There are wet spots everywhere. So you’re on slicks, you accelerate and it goes so fast. “
He explained that his tires were not working properly because of the cold and that on such a smooth track, his problems were exacerbated by oil leaks from the new asphalt.
The new surface was only 10 days old and the surface of the race track had been washed overnight before the practice opened, making it nearly impossible to generate heat in the tires.
Red Bulls Max Verstappen, who led the times in both training sessions, agreed with the six-time champion’s assessment.
“Well, it really can’t get any worse,” he said.
“We’re still miles away and it’s like driving on ice. Far worse than Portimao. Ultimately, it’s the same for everyone, so we just have to adjust to it.
“I hope it won’t rain as it is like driving properly on ice. Maybe we have to switch to spikes or something to the tire. That would be pretty interesting. So let’s see. “
Charles Leclerc, who finished second for Ferrari, was another one who slipped and spun but said he was pleased with a competitive performance he could complete ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“I really enjoyed it after a while,” he said.
The Finn is the only driver who can prevent Hamilton from taking his seventh title on Sunday. Based on his experience with winter rallies in Finland, he said he enjoyed the variety.
“At first it was a long way from what we’re normally used to in F1, but I enjoyed it. I played around a bit and it was fun, ”said Bottas.
Bottas must beat Hamilton by at least eight points to keep his title challenge alive.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Alex Albon finished fifth, admitting he was concerned about the slippery conditions ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.
“It’s bad,” he said. “I don’t know what we’ll do in qualifying. I don’t know if everyone will go into the green light and we all just drive around on softs on a flood of fuel for the entire session to do a race.
“So it feels like everyone is doing something.”
It was a tough day for Renault when Daniel Ricciardo (15th) and Estaban Ocon (12th) had problems.
“Overall, I would say it was a challenging day for us,” said Ricciardo. “We found something towards the end of FP2, so we ended on a positive note today and hope things will go better tomorrow.”
TURKEY GP PRACTICE RESULTS
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1: 28.330
2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.401
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +0.575
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.850
5. Alexander Albon (Red Bull) +1.033
6. Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri) +1,359
7. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) +1,614
8. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) +1,692
9. Lance Stroll (Racing Point) +1,967
10. Lando Norris (McLaren) +2,577
11. Sergio Perez (race point) +2,774
12. Esteban Ocon (Renault) +3,050
13. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) +3.163
14. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) +3,168
15. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) +3,330
16. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) +3,602
17. George Russell (Williams) +3,972
18. Romain Grosjean (Haas) +4,240
19. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +4,447
20. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) +5.158
– AFP
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