Lewis Hamilton told that after the first day of early tests in Barcelona the new Mercedes W10 car is felt as "something another" in comparison with the race car of 2018.
After last week the new car of ""Silver arrows"" passed in Silverstone the first kilometers in the test mode, Valtteri Bottas in the first half of the first day of early tests in the Spanish Barcelona passed 69 circles, and Hamilton who took the wheel of the new race car after the lunch finished 81 circles.
Couple of pilots finished day according to the final protocol on the eighth and ninth position among eleven racers who came out this day to the track.
"It is good to be in the car again, and it great when the race car works so smoothly, - the five-time world champion Hamilton told. - The race car differs a little from that which I piloted last year, and I and team we want as soon as possible, trying to understand its balance and characteristics, to effectively use it on the track.
It was very positive first day, we implemented our plan of runs for 100%, and we received many materials to study and to learn, there is as much as possible about our new car".
"As this race car is absolutely new, we were practically lucky to find at once ways to improve its balance and behavior, - Bottas told. - And we will continue to work hard on it tests in the next few days".
The technical director James Allison confirmed that the team made the decision not to work in emergency mode chose the weakened approach in the first full day with the new race car.
"We managed to receive a lot of things from the first day of runs, - he told. – We study how the newest tires of 2019 work and also we learn about how the car reacts to changes in settings. Today we didn't set the purpose to show the maximum pace, but we are very happy with controllability of the new race car and its behavior on the track".
The boss of team Toto Wolff noted that Mercedes won't distract and turn to the vnimayena on the results established by their main competitors Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari in the first test day.
"You have to be disciplined, - he told. - All of us are interested in seeing circle time, and, obviously, we want to be always fast and to head the protocol in each session, but these are the first tests, and they are intended not for this purpose. It is necessary to fulfill the full program with all parts and to look and analyze all data from sensors, cameras and telemetry.
We still don't know at all what will be position of participants in the peloton on start of the season in Melbourne, we don't see any sense to seek to head the protocol though Ferrari and its pilots look today extremely strongly".