Lewis Hamilton has lauded his Mercedes team’s “mind boggling” execution in the principal Formula 1 pre-season test.
The Briton and German team-mate Nico Rosberg delivered record mileage in their new car in Barcelona, leaving rivals shocked at its consistency. Hamilton said, “I’ve never seen anything like it. Just the strength of this car, it just keeps going. “After winning two championships, it’s so easy to lose focus – but everyone has done an even better job.”
He further added and said, “It’s just been an incredible weekend for testing for us. Before we came here they were talking about doing 800km (497 miles) a day and I thought that was crazy because I’ve never done that in the past. There are no breakdowns and a lot of reliability. “The car looks fantastic. Obviously we don’t know the pace of the car just yet but what we can say is that it’s gone the distance and that’s half the battle.”
Rosberg, 30, and Hamilton finished the last day seventh and eighth speediest – Mercedes have focused on strength running and have not done any exhibitions keeps running on the gentler tyres.
McLaren endured a noteworthy hit to end the first of just two pre-season tests this year as Fernando Alonso oversaw just three laps before the team found a water spill in the car.
They attempted to attempt to get the two-time champion out again however came up short on time and Alonso finished the day without a lap time.
The issues revived repulsive recollections of 2015, when both pre-season testing and the season itself were tormented by lack of quality and poor execution.
Honda is to present another particular engine, proposed to be a critical change, for one week from now’s last test.
He added: “It’s a really exciting time for us. I’ve never had a week like this when the car has just kept going on and on.
“It’s been physically challenging, but I’m so proud of my guys. After two really successful years it’s really easy to drop the ball and be chilled but everyone has worked even harder than before – which we thought was impossible.”
He said: “Driver of the Day doesn’t sound good to me. It sounds like a pointless exercise and I don’t really have positive things to say about it.”
