The seven-time world champion was the quickest to finish practice Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix by leading the FP2 ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas when 14 cars arrived within a second of his benchmark time.
Hamilton was impressed with the success of Mercedes’ F1 rivals. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were the closest challengers to the reigning world championship team in second practice when Red Bull fell back.
“It’s amazing to see the progress Ferrari and McLaren are making, even Alpine. It’s fantastic to see her so strong, ”said Hamilton.
“That also puts pressure on us, not just on a group.”
After Mercedes won both sessions on Friday, Hamilton said he was happy with the progress his team has made with their W12 car since the start of the season.
“It was a good start to the weekend,” said Hamilton. “The track is fantastic and the balance is similar to what we had in the last race. It looks close, but it looks like we’re at a decent pace today.
“We have to work on it,” he added. “It’s never that easy and I don’t think it will ever be that way with this car.
On the subject of matching items
“But we understand the car and know in which direction to balance. That’s why we made some improvements along the way.
“I don’t know if this session has necessarily gotten better, but there have been some results. I hope that once we can analyze this session we will have a better setup for tomorrow.”
Bottas was equally pleased with Mercedes’ start into the weekend, but expects the gaps in qualifying to become even closer.
On the subject of matching items
“It seems close, you know,” he said. “I think Ferrari was very fast today, but you never know.
“But I still think we should continue to focus on our performance and try to get the best out of the package. Hopefully we can stay ahead of the curve, but we only focus on ourselves and especially for me I will continue to focus on my work. “
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