Spanish Grand Prix: Mercedes team preview

Lewis Hamilton with his team during the practice sessions in Barcelona, Spain.

Mercedes head into the Spanish Grand Prix with nothing but hope that they will finish in the points. The Brackley-based team has struggled this season with tyre-ware issues and that is unlikely to change this race. Lewis Hamilton has started the year on a good run, and will hoping to start the European season in a similar manner.

Nico Rosberg is still a little uncomfortable with the car, but stormed to a pole position last race. However, by the end of the race, Lewis trumped Nico in the table, and that in itself gives you an idea of how much the German is struggling.

Ross Brawn and team haven’t brought in a lot of upgrades for Spain, but none of the other have too, and this could prove vital in the race for the points.

Nico Rosberg on Spain: “I’m looking forward to Spain. We know that the car went very well at the Circuit de Catalunya in pre-season testing so I am hopeful that we can have a strong weekend. We will have to wait and see how our pace compares however. I’ve been in the factory for a couple of days this week, on the simulator and meeting with the team, and everyone has been working hard to make progress on our race day performance. It will be an interesting weekend and once we see how everyone performs in Barcelona, it should give a good idea of how the rest of the season will look.”

Lewis is excited about Spain, “It feels like a long time since Bahrain so we’re all looking forward to Barcelona and starting to get into the routine of the European season. The short break has been good however, and I’ve had the chance to catch up with family and friends, and also spend some time at the factory with the guys, working on our efforts to improve. We’ve been boosted by the results that we’ve had at the start of the season and to come away from the first four races with two third and two fifth places feels like a real achievement. I’m feeling very comfortable in the car now and we know the areas that we need to improve so a lot of effort is being put in to close that gap to the front-runners. Barcelona should be a good test as we know the circuit so well having completed most of the pre-season test programme there. The weekend should be a good benchmark of the progress we have made since then.”