Mercedes AMG Petronas took the top two spots on day three of testing to round up the first week of pre-season testing ahead of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Lewis Hamilton drove the W11 during the afternoon completing seventy-three laps of the track and taking up second place, as he set a time of 1:16.516.
The Brit was pleased with testing so far and feels as though the team are in a good place this year. He made positive comments which reflected on the new car by Mercedes which he will be hoping takes him to the title once again.
The World Champion commented about how happy he was with the team and how he is excited to get back in the car next week for the second week of testing, ahead of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix.
“It’s been a great effort from the team and great to see that the reliability is as strong as it is. The car has felt pretty good out there.
“It’s been a solid first week and we’ve got some good mileage. It’s a true showing of all the incredible work everyone has done back at the factory and here at the track.
“I’m really proud of everyone. We’ve got to keep working hard, analyse all the data from this week and figure out how we can move the car forward and build on everything next week.“
Bottas W11 ‘Very Diverable’ as he sets fastest time
Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time of the day, putting the Mercedes over a second ahead of the rest of the teams as he lapped at 1:15.732 at the Circuit De Catalunya-Barcelona.
The Finn had had a good day in the car as the team racked up the highest total of laps for testing. Bottas is happy with how the car is feeing, but knows there was still work to be done with the new car.
“It’s been really fun today, especially getting to do some shorter runs and being able to push the car a little bit closer to the limits – seeing a little bit more of the performance of the car. I enjoyed it and it felt really good out there.
“It feels like we made a step with the set-up since yesterday. The car is very driveable and I’m sure with some more hard work next week, we can make it better, which will be the goal.“
The Finn, added that he felt he has been doing a good job in testing and was excited to get back in the car.
“Overall, it’s been a really good first test, we have made some improvements every day with the car. A big well done to every single team member to deliver the car and engine – great job! I’m looking forward to getting back in the car next week.“
Allison ‘Good Baseline’ Found in the W11
James Allison, Mercedes’ Technical Director was happy that the team were able to run a full programme with both of the drivers despite an electrical problem which ended running early on the second day.
“After the brief hiatus of yesterday, it was good to get a solid day of uninterrupted, reliable running today. Both drivers completed a programme of set-up work and an early look at the softer compound range.
“Just a very quick glimpse of that, but really useful preparation for the second week of testing where we have more of the soft rubber to bring.
“It’s been a good first week, the car has been broadly reliable, and the performance has been reasonably good throughout the week. “
He added there would still be a lot of work to do on the W11, explaining that they have a good idea of what to do in week two of testing.
“There are, of course, many things to work on and we’ll be trying to do that in week two. But it’s a really good baseline.
“At the end of this first week, we start to get some sort of feeling for where all the teams are in the pecking order and especially now a few race distances have gone down.
“But it will be really interesting in the second week as our estimates start to refine further.”
