Ahead of the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship opener, in Melbourne at the end of the month, Lewis Hamilton admits he is impressed by Ferrari’s performance during recent Barcelona preseason testing and believes that the Italian team have more in store.
The Mercedes driver said, “They [Ferrari] have been doing a fantastic job and I think there’s more to come from them,” he said. “I think their pace this week has been spectacular.”
“I think Red Bull are still there, I don’t know if they brought their upgrade package here this week but usually they bring it for the first race, so I expect us to be having a real serious battle with both these teams.”
Testing seldom gives a exact picture of what to expect, however it is clear Mercedes are still the team to beat while Ferrari appear to have made the biggest step forward. Have they closed the gap to the sport’s dominant team? Melbourne will be gin to answer that question.
But Hamilton is wary of the situation as it stands, “I don’t know if there are mind games going on. Every year in testing the goal is not necessarily to go as quick as you can, it’s to find out what you have in the car.”
“And sometimes there have been potentially some teams sandbagging in the past, but I don’t really see that as being a benefit to any team.”
“Driving [on the last day in Barcelona], the time you saw was the time we could do. I didn’t feel when I got out that I could have gone faster. But of course there are all sort of things that come into play to bring the time down, such as fuel loads, engine modes, those kind of things.”
Although Mercedes with Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas on duty covered more laps in Spain than any other team – 1096 laps around the Circuit de Catalunya over the course of the eight days of testing.
Ferrari were not far off on the mileage stakes, their drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel covering 956 laps, however the pair topped the combined timing sheets with Raikkonen fastest of all and over half a second up on the best time set by Bottas for Mercedes.
Hamilton summed up, “The great thing is no one really knows. It looks very positive for Ferrari, that’s for sure, and I don’t think that’s a bluff. I think that’s true. They’ve done a great job. Whatever the case, I can’t wait to go out and compete. Just a couple more weeks to go…”
Have Ferrari closed the gap? Do they have more in the tank? Do Mercedes have speed to spare but yet to be unleashed? Let us know your views
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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