Hamilton impressed with Mercedes W08 debut

Lewis Hamilton seemed particularly satisfied with his first day of testing in Barcelona where he shared the wheel of the Mercedes W08 with his teammate Valtteri Bottas. The three-time world champion set the benchmark time in 1'21''765, already improving by more than 2 tenths the time of his pole achieved last year with the W07 Hybrid on the Catalan track.

“It was a very good day for the team, recognized Lewis Hamilton who completed 73 laps this afternoon. We were able to cover many tours and retrieve lots of information in order to improve the car. The Gs received are much higher, it’s much more physical. I always tried to gain speed in the corners. You have to adapt your driving. It’s a beast, it’s definitely better compared to last year. »

Lewis Hamilton also noted that the degradation of the new wider Pirelli tires was more limited compared to the older versions.

“We usually get a lot of degradation, but not with these. However, there is not much performance at the start of the rubber's life. The hard tires seem very consistent, it drops a little over time but it's not excessive., said the Briton.

Valtteri Bottas, who only drove in the morning, achieved the 6th fastest time of the day and was also impressed by the qualities of his new mount. With 79 laps covered by the Finn, the Mercedes W08 completed a total of 152 laps of the Catalunya circuit.

“It’s more than a race distance, underlined the Finn. If we're going to run into problems, it might as well be now. That’s why we drove so much. We worked on the long relays without focusing on the times. The car looks very different compared to last year's models. »

Photos from F1 testing in Barcelona