Motor racing-Hamilton sees Spain as a perfect test for Mercedes
June 1 (Reuters) -Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix should give Mercedes a better picture of the true potential of its upgraded Formula One car, seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Thursday.
Mercedes introduced the upgraded car for last weekend's race in Monaco, with changes to the sidepod and suspension, but the nature of the slow and twisty street circuit made it hard to draw any conclusions.
"You can't really tell a lot from Monaco, you would never choose to test an upgrade at Monaco," Hamilton told reporters at the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday.
"This is a perfect test track, a lot of medium and high-speed corners, so we should get a real good understanding of where we stand compared to the others.
"From what I felt at the last race I'm really intrigued to see what it feels like here, because I think our race was pretty decent last year here, even though we had the puncture at the start."
George Russell was third for Mercedes and Hamilton fifth in Spain last year.
Mercedes have been playing catch-up since the start of the season, with champions Red Bull way ahead of the rest and winners of all six rounds so far.
Aston Martin, who use Mercedes engines, are still ahead of the works team in the constructors' standings.
Mercedes are not the only ones to have upgrades, with Ferrari also hoping to pick up some pace with their latest package and Aston Martin and Alpine bringing developments.
Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko told Austrian media that his team would also be trying something new in Barcelona but championship leader Max Verstappen played that down.
"I think Helmut got a bit excited as well, so I don’t know," he told reporters.
"We just do our normal program and nothing crazy."
Reporting by Alan Baldwin Editing by Mark Potter
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
