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Lewis Hamilton takes part in Formula One testing at the Catalunya racetrack near Barcelona on Tuesday. The former world champion set the fastest lap time in this morning’s session on the final day of testing before the start of the new Formula One season.
BARCELONA, Spain - Former world champion Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap time in Friday morning’s session at Barcelona’s Catalunya circuit on the fourth and final day of testing before the start of the new Formula One season.
The British driver, who has switched from McLaren to Mercedes for the coming season, clocked 1min 23.282sec, to finish ahead of his erstwhile team-mate Jenson Button, who timed 1:23.633 in his McLaren.
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“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,” said Hamilton.
“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.”
Jean-Eric Vergne of France, in a Toro Rosso, was third in 1:24.071.
But due to the cold conditions, most of the drivers taking part were a long way short of the best performcences clocked up over the past three days.
The new season opens in Melbourne, Australia on March 17.
Fastest times in Friday’s morning session:
1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:23.282, 2. Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren) 1:23.633, 3. Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA/Toro Rosso) 1:24.071, 4. Esteban Gutierrez (MEX/Sauber) 1:25.239, 5. Jules Bianchi (FRA/Force India) 1:25.732, 6. Giedo van der Garde (NED/Caterham) 1:27.429, 7. Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 1:27.563, 8. Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull) 1:27.616, 9. Max Chilton (GBR/Marussia) 1:29.902, 10. Romain Grosjean (FRA/Lotus) 1:34.800
