Lewis Hamilton begs Mercedes for car upgrades after ‘kick in the guts’ practice

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton believes his team "desperately" need some car upgrades after finding himself nearly a second behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen during practice at the Miami Grand Prix.

Spirits were high in the Mercedes camp after seven-time F1 champion Hamilton and team mate George Russell produced some excellent times in first practice to lead the rest of the field.

However, a huge drop off in P2 saw Hamilton finish 0.928 seconds slower than rival Verstappen, while Russell dropped all the way down to 15th fastest.

READ MORE: George Russell praised for hitting back at Max Verstappen after furious 'd***head' comment

So far this term, Hamilton has only produced one podium finish, with the 38-year-old placing second at the Australian Grand Prix.

And after their strong start to practice on Friday that eventually tailed off, Hamilton described the drop off as "a kick in the guts".

"It's a kick in the guts and it's a little bit difficult to take sometimes," said Hamilton.

"We desperately need those upgrades. We have to keep our head down for one more race and hopefully we will start a new path next race.

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"Same as every weekend – we are a second down. [Miami] is a great place to be but we are not particularly quick and it's a struggle out there. P1 looked quite good but in P2 the true pace came out.

Ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, set to take place on 21 May, Hamilton's Mercedes will receive some major developments, which should put his car in a better position to compete.

And with that in mind, Hamilton hopes those upgrades will help move Mercedes in the right direction.

"I am going to stay hopeful that we can get the car in a better place," added Hamilton.

"We had the extreme bouncing last year but it feels like we are racing the same car."

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