By alley - Apr 7, 2017, 8:22 AM ET

Hamilton wants F1 to address Friday problems

Lewis Hamilton has called on Formula 1 and the FIA to work on putting a contingency plan in place to prevent a repeat of Friday's problems at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Just 21 minutes of track running were possible

during FP1

at the Shanghai International Circuit as low cloud and smog prevented the medical helicopter from being able to land at the nominated hospital in Shanghai. With the conditions not changing throughout the day, the second practice session was eventually canceled, despite the track being fine for running.

With no driver completing more than eight laps in total, Hamilton – who crossed the track to distribute caps to fans in the main grandstand during FP2 (pictured below) – says a solution needs to be found to avoid such a situation occurring again in future.

"Obviously not a great day," Hamilton said. "I've only done one lap on the 2017 wet tires so far this year and, from what I could tell on that out-lap, they feel pretty similar to last year's so I don't have any particular worries over it. But there's a bigger picture today.

"The track was absolutely fine and we could have run all day today with no issue if it weren't for the clouds. It's not good for the fans watching on TV and even worse for all those people in the stands, who have paid money to come out here from the city or even from other countries. They've barely seen a car on track today, which must be tough for them.

"We need to work together with the FIA and FOM (Formula One Management) to find a solution or an alternative plan of some kind when we have circumstances like this in the future."

The weather forecast is more promising for Saturday's running, but there is the possibility of similar conditions on race day. However, despite brief discussions about potential changes to the race weekend format, the FIA is confident the cloud level will be higher on Sunday and will allow the race to go ahead.