Although Mercedes swept the two opening training sessions in Spain on Friday, Lewis Hamilton said he is cautious about the challenge that not only rivals Red Bull but also re-energized midfielders McLaren and Ferrari pose at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Hamilton was fastest in FP2 ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after Bottas led Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in FP1 and Hamilton finished third. But Ferrari in particular was close behind the leaders all day, while Alpine was also involved, Esteban Ocon finished fourth and Fernando Alonso fifth in second practice.
READ MORE: Kubica Apologizes for FP1 Spin – “I paid a high price for a small mistake”
When asked if he was happy that Red Bull could take on a challenge from the midfielders this weekend, Hamilton replied: “We just focus on our job and I just focus on our job … Alpine. Yeah, I mean, it’s fantastic to see them so strong, but that also puts pressure on us. It’s not just for a group. “
Team boss Toto Wolff was thrilled after the day of the race when Mercedes was ahead in both sessions, but said that he enjoyed the fight against Red Bull the most. So much, he said, that this season felt like a return to 2013, when Red Bull won the championship ahead of Mercedes.
“I think it was our best Friday so far [in 2021], that’s pretty encouraging and we were just discussing on the pit wall so we had 24 hours to really screw it up, ”he joked.
“It’s a pretty interesting phenomenon that we’ve discovered … we’re having more fun than we have in many years,” he added. “It reminds me of 2013, we were only an inch back and now it’s back to work all happy and happy and we’re just hunting.”
READ MORE: Meet Frederik Vesti, the Mercedes junior with his eye for the F3 title – and then with the Silver Arrows, F1 glory
As for Bottas, the FP1 session chairman pointed out Ferrari this weekend as an outside threat.
“It seems close,” he said. “I think Ferrari was pretty good today, so you never know. But I think we should keep our focus on our performance. Get the most out of the package and hopefully we can stay ahead, but we’re just concentrating on ourselves and for me above all on my work. “
The post “Amazing” advances by McLaren and Ferrari put us and Red Bull under pressure, says Hamilton first appeared on monter-une-startup.
