Lewis Hamilton hoping to 'squeeze juice' ahead of 'huge' Silverstone challenge

Lewis Hamilton has explained how he is hoping to "squeeze more juice" from his Ferrari ahead of the "huge" challenge of the British Grand Prix.

Silverstone is expected to be one of the most extreme circuits of the year in terms of energy management for drivers, with there being an effective flat-out blast from the exit of Woodcote, through Copse, and Maggots and Beckets, down the Hanger Straight and through Stowe.

The energy-starved nature of the circuit means it is going to be hard for drivers to brake hard to recapture energy they need. 

To further complicate matters, the usual three hours of practice are not on offer for drivers, with the British GP being the fourth Sprint event of the season - meaning there are only 60 minutes of practice before Sprint Qualifying. 

With two hours of practice not available, it means teams and drivers must complete the usual three hours of work into one - with energy management set to be key. 

Looking ahead to the challenge to come, Hamilton explained that he was hopeful Ferrari's preparation would allow him to "squeeze more juice out of this baby."

"It’s huge," Hamilton began when asked by RacingNews365 how much of a complicating factor the weekend being a Sprint event was.

"It ultimately puts more emphasis on simulations, and I think [Friday] will be interesting to see. I mean, in the previous years when we had DRS, you saw different deployment strategies from different people. 

"I think already in the last race you heard a couple of drivers talk about us having potentially different deployment. I think it was Kimi maybe, so that he nearly drove into the back of Charles or something like that. So, we are constantly working on it, we’re constantly evolving. 

"Everyone’s working really hard to understand it and to make sure we arrive at the best deployment strategy we can have and the most efficient. But more often than not, you get out of the session, and you realise that there are areas that we can improve on, so it’s just how quickly we can adapt. 

"It’s just all about being as adaptive as you can be. So I’m hopeful that we’ve done the best prep possible for this weekend, both in setup and in our aero package. 

"But I’m sure through the free practice session, we’ll just have more and see if we can squeeze any more juice out of this baby."