Having completed a total of 52 laps around the Montmelo venue in wet and cold conditions today, Hamilton and his team focused on making the most of opportunities for dry running before the rain started to pour. In the afternoon, the outfit focused on tyre evaluations and systems checks.
"The conditions today meant that we didn't complete as many laps we would have done in the dry but we have gone through the test items that we wanted to achieve this week," Hamilton commented. "We have been working on our consistency over long runs and we managed one run this morning on dry tyres. The car felt okay, but the conditions were also very cool, so we cannot draw too many conclusions."
"Like I said in Jerez, I can feel that we have a good foundation with this car, but there is still a lot to learn and we know that the name of the game is to improve our downforce. From a personal point of view, my relationship with the team is growing all the time and it's going really well. I'm happy working with the guys, we are working in the right direction together and I'm pushing to extract the most from the team, just like they are with me."
1. Lewis Hamilton (UK) Mercedes, 1min 23.282secs 52 laps
2. Jenson Button (UK) McLaren 1min 23.633secs 70 laps
3. Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA) Toro Rosso 1min 24.071secs 80 laps
4. Jules Bianchi (FRA) Force India 1min 25.732secs 96 laps
5. Esteban Gutierrez (MEX) Sauber 1min 26.239secs 61 laps
6. Giedo van der Garde (NED) Caterham 1min 27.429secs 50 laps
7. Felipe Massa, Ferrari (BRA) 1min 27.563secs 80 laps
8. Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull Racing 1min 27.616secs 64 laps
9. Max Chilton (UK) Marussia 1min 29.902secs 51 laps
10. Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus 1min 34.800secs 41 laps
11. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams No time 23 laps
12. Pastor Maldonado (VZ) Williams No time 13 laps
.@lewishamilton "I'm pushing to extract the most from the team, just like they are with me" bit.ly/YrroST twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/…
— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) February 22, 2013
