Breaking news
Formula 1 Barcelona F1 testing
Lewis Hamilton expecting a “harder fight” in 2015
Reigning world champion tips Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams to have raised their game.
Published: Feb 21, 2015, 6:58 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Lewis Hamilton ended his planned Barcelona test programme on Saturday evening and believes that Mercedes’s nearest rivals will give him a “harder fight” in 2015.
Hamilton was third fastest in testing today, but didn’t attempt any low-fuel runs or the super-soft Pirelli tyres in a qualifying simulation.
“I’ve not been looking at the others,” he said when asked where the opposition was going to come from. “Everyone is on different tyres, different fuel loads.
“It’s like juggling blind. That’s what I love about this sport. I anticipate a harder fight this year.”
Ferrari and Red Bull lead the challenge
Hamilton, who was still suffering from a head cold that forced him out of the cockpit on the opening day, did elaborate on where he expects the challenge to come from.
“I anticipate Ferrari looks quite strong, similar to Red Bull, but I don’t know really where we are amongst those,” he said.
“It looks like the Ferrari has potentially picked up their pace, Red Bull is just as quick and improved their engine maybe, and Williams are gonna be there, but I’d imagine they’d made a step, but so have we. Time will tell how big a step they’ve made compared to us.”
More answers in final test
Hamilton will get back behind the wheel in the second – and final – Barcelona test, which starts on February 26.
“We will get a bit of a better understanding next week, when everyone brings their upgrade for the first race,” he said. “Then you get to the first race, and it’s all different, because the tyres start working better and the track gets better.”
He also had a critical word for Pirelli, when it came to judging their performance in testing.
“We could do with more days, we could go with lots more good tyres, better tyres, that work all the time when you go out and pound around,” he said. “The tyres don’t really work very often, they don’t for me at least.”
Hamilton hands over to Nico Rosberg for the final day tomorrow.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Daniil Kvyat works steadily on Day Three at Barcelona
Next article Hamilton hits a century on day three at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Hamilton
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Why Ferrari caved in to Lewis Hamilton’s failed Singapore F1 gamble
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Why Ferrari caved in to Lewis Hamilton’s failed Singapore F1 gamble
Latest news
Frankie Muniz offers new details on 2027 NASCAR plans
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Talladega
20 min
Frankie Muniz offers new details on 2027 NASCAR plans
Joan Mir remains on the sidelines as Honda forced to race with one rider in Australia
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
31 min
Joan Mir remains on the sidelines as Honda forced to race with one rider in Australia
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe