Lewis Hamilton says he has “a lot of work to 𒀰do” to get on terms with the pace of Mercede🌱s Formula 1 teammate Valtteri Bottas at the Russian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished a lowly 19tඣh during a difficult opening practice session, before recovering to take second in FP2, 0.267s down on Bottaꦿs’ session-leading time as the Finn completed a Friday practice sweep.

The Briton, who holds a 55-point championship lead over Bottas heading into this weekend’s race at Sochi, acknowl🙈edged he has more performance to find if he is to beat his teammate to pole position for the fifth race in a ro♈w.

“I didn’t feel like I was particu🐬larly quick today,” Hamilton conceded after second practice.

“It didn’t start off particularly good and P1 was pretty poor. I had a lock-up in Turn 1 on the Soft t👍yre and then wen𝓡t out on the Hard tyre and completely destroyed the tyres. P1 was scrapped.

“P2 started off better, I’m just down a bit in the first and second sector, but the last one was nice. I haven’t put them all together yet and it’s a work in progre♋ss.

“There’s some thingඣs I need to improve from the driver’s side and set-up wise. If you don’t take any steps forward in first practice you are starting from behind in the second one.

“Nonetheless, the car has been performing really well. I’ve got a lot of work to do overnight, b✃ut it’s nothing new.”

The Mercedes duo were in a league of their own in the afternoon as third-placed man Daniel Ricciardo finished 🔯a full second off Bottas’ benchm🎀ark in his Renault.

Asked if he was surprised by the margin to the rest of the pack, Hamilton replied: “Yeah because even for us ⛄it doesn’t really feel that great ouꦓt there.

“The grip is poor, there’s a lot of sliding so I’m surprised to see that g✨ap. It must be even worse for those behind.

“But the track will grip up and maybe it will close up tomorrow𒀰.”