Lewis Hamilton yet to run the new car on low fuel – Formula 1 news
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has said that he had run the new car MP4-27 by keeping ‘a nice amount of fuel’ during the pre-season tests at Jerez and Barcelona circuits in order to hide the real performance of the car from its contenders.
Moreover, he said that the standings in the tests were not important for him.
During the final test, the teams brought the cars after the final up-gradations and set the quickest lap times of the winter. Hamilton remained busy on the last day of the final test and set the tenth fastest time which was 0.400 seconds off the quickest
being set by Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus.
Nonetheless, the Briton said that there was a lot more to come from the new car which would be witnessed in the forthcoming season starting next week at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia.
Furthermore, he said that the team had improved its performance as compared to the last year’s pre-season testing and preparations when they were barely able to do any run prior to the first race. However, he said that this year the team was well prepared
for the forthcoming season.
“On the final day I did 115 laps, great mileage, so it was a positive way to end the winter testing,” he told a selection of UK newspapers. “I think we were one of the top teams for mileage. I also kept a nice amount of fuel in the car for all my tests.
I wasn't really bothered with positioning. What matters is when we get to the first race.”
Hamilton said that he was hoping for a much closer tussle amongst the top rivals. Meanwhile he said that the aerodynamics influenced by the use of exhaust gases would keep on playing an important role in the performance of the top teams’ cars throughout
the season.
In addition, he said that Red Bull Racing had been much faster than any other team during the last couple of seasons. He also said that Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari had the same exhaust solutions while Lotus and Mercedes had different approaches. Besides,
he said it would be very exciting to see who would be fast and who would not be in the upcoming season.
Tags: