The seven-time world champion had been right behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell as they topped the timesheets in FP1, but his form fell away in the evening practice session as Hamilton ended up seventh – nearly one second adrift of pace-setter Max Verstappen.
Reflecting on the struggles to find a good balance with the car, Hamilton said that the contrast of performance over the day had been hard to take.
“We're not particularly quick and it's a struggle out there,” he said. “We're just trying lots of different things.
“P1 looked quite good, but then to come into P2, and the true pace comes out, it's just a kick in the gut. It's a little bit difficult to take sometimes, but we'll just keep on working on it, and we’ll regroup to try and see if we can make some set-up changes to get the car in the sweet spot.”
While Mercedes’ situation had looked encouraging at the Australian Grand Prix as the squad was able to challenge Red Bull, things have been more difficult recently.
Source: Autosport