Lewis Hamilton struggles for grip in Saudi Arabia Friday practice: “Softs didn’t work for me”. Lewis Hamilton finished only 13th in FP2 at the Saudi Arabian GP, struggling to find confidence with the Soft tyres.

In a Formula 1 field where the top 16 drivers are within less than a second and a half, Lewis Hamilton’s 13th place, 1.1 seconds off the benchmark time, is far from expectations and certainly below the standards of his stellar career.

The former Mercedes driver continues to struggle to adapt to the SF-25. While Charles Leclerc seems to have found a promising direction to extract more from this year’s Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton remains in the middle of a learning curve that, at least for now, shows no clear way forward.

“It didn’t go in the best way. I think getting the tyres to work today was very tricky for me,” the seven-time Formula 1 world champion said after the second free practice session held in the evening in Jeddah – “It has nothing to do with the team. I just struggled to make the tyres work properly.”

So far, Lewis Hamilton has clearly struggled particularly over a single lap. That’s why the Maranello team will work overnight on his number 44 Ferrari to try to find something that can help him gain more confidence with the softer compounds, and secure a better starting position for Sunday’s race: “So far on Saturdays I’ve always been behind. But this time we really can’t afford to be. So hopefully we can improve the car between now and tomorrow.” – he pointed out.

“There were moments during the session where I felt good in the car. But with the Soft tyres I still haven’t found the right feeling. Hopefully we can benefit tomorrow from what we change tonight.” – the British driver concluded at the end of the second free practice session which was held at the 6.174-kilometre Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Friday.