Skip to content

Lewis Hamilton attempts to play down Mercedes' Day Three Barcelona test pace

Briton claims his strong time relative to rivals "doesn't really matter"

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Lewis Hamilton has stressed that "people shouldn't get excited" and suddenly start dramatically reassessing Mercedes' prospects for 2013 in wake of his dominant showing on Day Three of the Barcelona test

Asked by Sky Sports News' Rachel Brookes if he was now more or less confident for the season, Hamilton added: "Neither. We got through all the testing programmes we needed to do and tested the components and the updates today were a good step forward. The guys are working very hard back in the factory and also here. Overall very, very happy on a lot of levels." Nonetheless, after an inauspicious start to life with their W04 at Jerez at the start of last month, Hamilton acknowledged the winter had gone well for the Brackley team at the end of what was his final day in the car before Melbourne. "I've been really pleased with it," he admitted. "Obviously the first couple of days was a little bit of a step backwards before we even really got out of the starting blocks. To be able to recover that - I think we are one of the top teams now in terms of mileage - and to see the reliability and also the steps forward we have been making throughout all these test days is a real positive."

Around Sky