Nico Rosberg wants to see Mercedes communications director Bradley Lord “have a word” with Lewis Hamilton for not being in the car and ready at the end of the third and final practice session. Hamilton was not a happy camper inside the cockpit of his Mercedes after both of Friday’s sessions, admitting concern on whether they’ll finish inside the points on Sunday.
That put more pressure on Mercedes to make some changes for the final practice session, but their plans were hampered by a downpour of rain on the track. Hamilton was able to get one lap time in at the start with promising results before Logan Sargeant’s crash brought an abrupt end to the dry runs.
The rain continued for most of the session before Lando Norris became the first driver to return to slicks with around 10 minutes to go. More and more cars were soon coming out of the pits onto softs to try and get one final lap time in to get some much-needed data.
Cameras then panned to the Mercedes garage where they were frantically getting Hamilton’s car ready to get on the track. Rosberg had spoken with Lord while Hamilton was still sitting at the back of the garage with the Mercedes chief admitting the seven-time world champion was waiting for the right moment to get out on track.
Hamilton’s former team-mate couldn’t understand why the Brit was not just getting out on track at that moment to get a feel for the conditions earlier. “Can you now just go over to Lewis and tell him, ‘Lewis, it definitely makes sense for you to get in the car right now and get out there and practice’,” Rosberg asked with 11 minutes left in the session.
But it wasn’t until there was four minutes left that Hamilton was seen coming out on track with Rosberg far from impressed. “Look, now Lewis is in a rush to get his belts on because he was out of the car,” Rosberg said.
“I think Bradley should have had a word with him. Maybe this is Bradley, that’s why Lewis is back in the car.”
All cars were unable to improve on their lap times at the start of the session, but Hamilton only had enough time to put in one lap. Max Verstappen was once again the quickest from his earlier lap and was one of only a few drivers who opted against going all out for another qualifying sim towards the end.
“I don’t feel comfortable pushing in these conditions. I think it’s a waste,” he said. “I don’t give a **** what everyone else is doing.”
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