By Joe Murphy
Lewis Hamilton is hopeful that an upgraded floor on his Ferrari will provide a much-needed performance boost as the Bahrain Grand Prix approaches this weekend.
The seven-time world champion has had a difficult start to his first season with the Scuderia, with the team failing to meet expectations set during pre-season testing. Despite his success in the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint, Hamilton’s results in the full races have been disappointing, with his best finish being a seventh-place result in Japan. He was disqualified in China and finished tenth in Australia.
Ahead of the Bahrain race, Hamilton expressed cautious optimism about the impact of Ferrari’s latest update. “We’ve got an upgrade this weekend, so I’m excited that hopefully we should have a bit more downforce,” he said. “I’m not really feeling a huge amount of issues, just a lack of overall performance pace-wise, which we can hopefully take a step forward this weekend.”
The Bahrain International Circuit, where Formula 1 conducted pre-season testing, offers a familiar environment for Hamilton and Ferrari as they seek improvements. “I’ve done quite a bit of driving since the test here, so I should be a lot more comfortable in the car than I was during testing,” Hamilton added.
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