In Barcelona, ​​tires still haunt Mercedes

For the traditional free practice sessions on Friday, the Silver Arrows, Black this year, had no trouble getting to the front. In the morning, first place was for Valtteri Bottas while the afternoon is Lewis Hamilton who was the fastest.

" It was a good day. I didn't have any bad feelings apart from a little understeer at the start but nothing too serious", said the Finn first, who obviously did not suffer too much on the track unlike his teammate who was marked by the heat.

“It was tough on the track. I don't think I've ever been to Spain in such conditions (...) It's very nice weather but it's felt a lot in the car and it's very difficult for the tires as well.

The tires precisely, at the center of attention for two weeks after the blowouts that occurred at the British Grand Prix and whose threat hovers more than ever above the paddock.

“I didn’t see any blisters today but we also didn’t see any last week during testing,” said a wary Lewis Hamilton despite a good stint during the second session of the day.

“The long stint didn’t look bad. I don't know how far you can take the tires in long stints compared to what Red Bull is capable. This will define whether we decide on a one-stop or two-stop strategy.”

More relaxed, Valtteri Bottas wants to be more optimistic about the tires after having been able to collect a lot of information for his engineers. “We did long stints with all the components so we will be able to learn a lot before the race (…) From now on, the most important thing is to optimize tire performance as much as possible.”

If optimism seems to be the watchword, there is no doubt that the Pirelli threat is still present in the ranks of Mercedes.