Lewis Hamilton was the fastest man during the 4 day testing with a time of 1m19.333s late into Day 4 of the Barcelona Test.
Hamilton hadn’t been on track for large parts of the first 3 days, owing to the bad weather and Mercedes’ strategy to let Bottas first warm up the car in the morning sessions.
Barcelona’s new track surface could have helped the car achieve greater speeds and while Hamilton credited the Barcelona track as well, he was quick to point out the improvements in the new W09 and how it could run a little faster this season.
“It’s an evolution of last year’s car, we’ve got better tyres and particularly here we’ve got a new surface, so that might make things seem even better than they really are,” Hamilton said.
“So far it’s been really good. Normally I’m not someone who likes testing, but today actually I was really keen to get out because we haven’t had many laps.
“It’s difficult to say whether the car is that much better, how much of it is the track and the grip and the tyres. Next week we’ll get a better understanding.
“But it definitely feels like a faster car compared to last year’s car, so that’s positive.” he added.
Hamilton though has had very little time on track, having completed just 91 laps in testing as opposed to 300 laps last season. However, Hamilton isn’t reading much into it as he feels comfortable with the new car.
“People ask me how many laps would you have normally had up to today, and obviously the last couple of years it’s been something like 300 at least,” said the Brit
“Obviously today I only started with 25 laps [completed]. It is what it is, and I don’t think anyone has had massively more time on the track than me.
“As I said, I got back in the car and I got straight on it in the first 10 laps, so I’m quite happy, quite comfortable already.” he concluded.
