Lewis Hamilton called for his Mercedes team to react, again, with an overnight re-think after Sebastian Vettel led a Red Bull domination of Friday’s opening practice for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old Briton conceded that Vettel had outpaced him on a hot afternoon at the Autodromo Nazionale, but stressed that he can bounce back for a fifth consecutive pole on Saturday.
“The Red Bull is very quick, but generally my car feels good so I have to sit down tonight and try and understand things,” he said.
“I feel like I am on the limit everywhere and the car feels reasonably balanced. Maybe we are running too much wing?”
Hamilton, like Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, has made clear that he has to cut into Vettel’s massive lead in the drivers’ championship at the next two races if he is to stay in the hunt.
He may draw some comfort from the knowledge that though Vettel has won twice at Monza, compared to his sole win, Red Bull has registered only one Italian victory from 16 starts since 2005 – and regards the Autodromo Nazionale as a bogey circuit.
The winner at Monza, however, has started from pole 10 times in the past 13 years – a statistic that makes it clear that Vettel’s rivals need to overhaul the Red Bull duo to boost their title challenges.
Both Webber and Vettel were reluctant to crow, however.
“The car is certainly not in bad shape,” said Webber. “We just want to get a better package out of what we have got.
“We need to work harder on short and long runs. Seb had one lap there that was well clear of everybody – which you can do sometimes.”
Vettel, who leads Alonso by 46 points in the standings, said: “It was a good day, but it is still only a Friday. It looks tight. If you look at it too much it can be a distraction, but I think it will be a close qualifying with many cars up there.”
Vettel topped the times with some ease, the defending triple world champion clocking one minute and 24.453 seconds to be six-tenths of a second clear of his Australian teammate.
They were followed by Kimi Raikkonen and his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean, with Alonso fifth and Hamilton sixth.
Hamilton had been fastest in the morning’s opening session ahead of Alonso, but the pair were unable to mount a serious threat in the afternoon heat.