Mercedes had ‘obstacles to overcome’ despite fastest F1 test time - Hamilton

Hamilton set the pace on the final day of the Barcelona test with a 1m19.138s, less than a tenth ahead of new Mercedes teammate George Russell.

Historically, Mercedes has never tended to show its hand in testing, but both Hamilton and Russell set fast lap times on softer tyres at the end of their respective sessions on day three at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

It was a familiar look at the front of the timesheets with Mercedes leading a 1-2 ahead of a Red Bull 3-4, but Hamilton says he has “no idea” where everyone is in the pecking order.

Reflecting on the three days of running in Barcelona, Hamilton revealed that it wasn’t all plain sailing for Mercedes with a number of obstacles along the way.

“It's been an interesting few days,” Hamilton said after the conclusion of the Barcelona test. “It's not been the easiest or the most smooth running. We've definitely had some obstacles to overcome but we've got through as much as we'd [like]. Of course, we'd always want more laps but I am happy with today’s [running].

“I think I almost got 100 laps in today so for half a day running that's not too bad. A little bit behind on the last two days. The car is a lot different to previous years to drive, as are the tyres but we're working our way through it.”

All 10 teams will have three more days of testing in Bahrain ahead of the season-opener at the same venue.

Hamilton didn’t want to give too much detail as to what the challenges were for Mercedes over the last few days.

“The whole team have done an amazing job this week,” Hamilton added. “The men and women back at the factory have done an awesome job.

“We just need to download all of this data and get through as much as we can next week, and just try to put one foot in front of the other.”

Hamilton was more satisfied with the feeling of his Mercedes W13 when he switched to the softer compounds at the end of the day to take to the top of the timesheets ahead of his teammate.

“It was a damn sight better than earlier on when it was damp or wet, it wasn't a good start to the session with all that wet running,” Hamilton explained. “The car definitely was feeling better with the fresher tyres and it was good to get a feel for the different compounds.”