Hamilton - Mercedes not 'in the right window'

Lewis Hamilton says there's plenty of work to do following today's practice sessions, where both Mercedes drivers had a relatively low-key start to the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

The triple world champion was third fastest in the first practice session before dropping to fifth in the second, more than three-tenths of a second slower in each session than pace-setter Daniel Ricciardo. Teammate Valtteri Bottas was fifth quickest in the first session – more than seven-tenths slower than Ricciardo – but ended the second practice two-tenths back.

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"It is very unclear at the moment as to where we need to change the car, so there is a lot of analysis that needs to go on and I'm hoping that tomorrow when we get out on track it feels better," Hamilton said.

"I don't know if it's been partly the wind or the tires, but the pace was quite good on the soft tire and I just didn't get the lap on the super-softs. I think we've got the package and we have just got to get it in the right envelope."

Hamilton also hinted at a greater challenge coming from Red Bull, which introduced an updated aero package this weekend that saw Ricciardo smash last year's pole time set by Nico Rosberg by 1.5 seconds.

"We anticipated that this weekend would be very close being that [the Hungaroring] is not a power-dependent circuit," Hamilton said. "Red Bull have an upgrade and their car looks pretty planted, so it's been a bit of a tricky day."

Despite not breaking into the top two, Hamilton's best time in the second practice session was set on the soft compound tire; he failed to improve when completing his super-soft runs. And he admitted he wasn't quite comfortable.

"I just pulled out of every lap because Turn 1 I had an oversteer moment, Turn 4 I had an oversteer moment and I never had a clean lap," he said. "We have to do the work tonight because the car is not currently in the right window. But I think we can get there and we have the best team."