Hamilton faster than he looks

Speaking yesterday, Lewis Hamilton stressed that the configuration of what is now officially, and cumbersomely, dubbed Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, would mitigate the advantage of Mercedes.

But even though mitigate does not mean eradicate, Friday practice suggests that not only is Mercedes still ahead, but its advantage is as big as ever.

"If you look at data, or you look at the GPS of other teams, their loss is in the latter part of the straights," said Lewis Hamilton. "You can reduce that significantly here so it should naturally, before everyone has put the upgrades on, be a closer gap I think.

"Everybody is bringing upgrades this weekend, some more than others, so it will be interesting to see if that gap is still there of not."

Hamilton will have found today doubly interesting, because not only does the Silver Arrows have a clear advantage, but he appears to have a decisive edge over team-mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg.

Based on Friday practice, it would be a surprise if Hamilton did not finally claim the points lead with a fourth consecutive victory.

SINGLE-LAP PACE

The fastest times of the day were all set on medium-compound Pirellis during Friday afternoon practice, with the order of the top five matching exactly the ranking based on lap times on the slower rubber.

The ranking is hardly wildly different to what we saw on Friday practice in China, with a couple of teams one place better or worse off, but little in the way of big changes.

But what is interesting is that the gap from the front to best-of-the-rest was double what it was at Shanghai.

Pace
 1. Mercedes (Hamilton), 1m25.524s
 2. Red Bull (Daniel Ricciardo), +0.985s
 3. Ferrari (Fernando Alonso), +1.597s
 4. McLaren (Kevin Magnussen), +2.264s
 5. Williams (Felipe Massa), +2.300s
 6. Lotus (Pastor Maldonado), +2.342s
 7. Toro Rosso (Daniil Kvyat), +2.525s
 8. Force India (Nico Hulkenberg), +2.550s
 9. Sauber (Adrian Sutil), +2.760s
10. Marussia (Jules Bianchi), +4.467s
11. Caterham (Kamui Kobayashi), +5.814s

HAMILTON VERSUS ROSBERG

With the rest in their own fight for third, it makes sense to look at the Mercedes drivers' performance in isolation.

Both completed their long runs on the medium-compound Pirellis, which are expected to be the tyre of choice on Sunday. Rosberg's run was 18 laps, with Hamilton completing one more.

Knocking out the anomalous laps, that cuts Rosberg's run to 13 counted flying laps, which can be compared against a run of the same length by Hamilton.

Long-run average (based on 13-lap run)
1 Hamilton, 1m31.187s
2 Rosberg, +0.619s

Rosberg could not match Hamilton's pace © LAT

So let's say the pair start first and second, that would equate to Hamilton having a decisive lead of eight seconds over a hypothetical 13-lap opening stint. The 2008 world champion was certainly happy with the range he achieved on the mediums.

"They didn't seem so bad," he said after the session. "When they told me I had to do 14 laps on the option tyre, I was like 'you're crazy, that's not going to happen' but I think I did more than that."

All of this is encouraging for Hamilton in his private battle. But there are some caveats.

Rosberg's day was compromised by an ERS problem in the morning that restricted him to nine laps. He admitted he was not particular comfortable with the car. But he also went significantly quicker than Hamilton in the first two fliers of his run, 0.438s faster on the first and then 1.039s on the second.

This might have compromised his pace over the long run, but there can be little doubt that he needs to make some progress overnight.

GARY ANDERSON: "Hamilton is nearly five tenths faster on raw pace, so there's no reason why he should not be six tenths quicker on that run.

"This track is all about the tyres. If you lose performance in the rear tyres, Turn 3 becomes a nightmare, which compounds the situation and it becomes an ever-worsening spiral.

"You can talk about taking it easy and you certainly can with the fronts, but you have to lean on the rears so much there not to give away laptime that if you are struggling with degradation it's a massive challenge.

"Were I in Hamilton's shoes, I'd be very happy that I had a good understanding of what is going on, which explains exactly why he's said he doesn't feel he needs the help of a psychologist!

"Understanding the car here is key and you need the right balance. Hamilton seems to have that now."

RED BULL vs FERRARI

"It's the Red Bulls and the Ferraris that you have got to keep an eye on," said Hamilton yesterday.

What happened on Friday backed this up, with Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso next in the queue on single-lap pace and with an edge over the chasing pack.

But even with Red Bull hurt by Sebastian Vettel's day being ruined by an electrical problem that then damaged the wiring loom, restricting him to just four slow laps all day, it appears to be comfortably ahead.

Ricciardo was, on average, half a second quicker than the Ferrari, using Kimi Raikkonen's long run as the comparison. There were some hints that Alonso had the potential to be quicker, but his run was shorter. Even so, Ferrari is playing catch up.

Battle for second place (based on 13-lap run)
1 Red Bull, 1m31.928s
2 Ferrari, 1m32.433s

Most encouraging for Ricciardo was the fact he was able to complete a significantly longer run and still lap competitively at the end of the stint, suggesting his China tyre management strength has carried over into this weekend.

GARY ANDERSON: "I was watching at Turn 10 and then at the complex during FP2 and the Red Bull looks mega in the hands of Ricciardo. Obviously I didn't see anything of Vettel.

"You can see he is able to lean on the car and it behaves very neatly. Other cars, including the Mercedes, when they lean on it one end or the other gives up and there is a small twitch. But not with the Red Bull, in which Ricciardo can push with reasonable confidence.

Ricciardo looked faster than the Ferraris © LAT

"On single-lap pace, Ricciardo was about a second slower than Hamilton and the gap is there on long-run pace, which you would expect.

"As for Vettel, we've seen him missing parts of Friday before and shining the next day. But that's when he's completely happy with the car. Ricciardo has shown what can be done and therefore Vettel can do the same, but he needs to ensure that he drives the car to its limits, and not get frustrated and overdo it.

"If he still drives in this way and expects exhaust-blown downforce to help, he will be in trouble. That's what he needs to come to terms with tomorrow."

"Ferrari does appear to have made progress and Raikkonen in particular has found his feet. But the car is still well off Red Bull on pace."

BATTLE FOR SEVENTH

While things are not that close up front, the scrap for the minor points positions will be intense based on Friday's long-run pace.

Here, the single-lap form is turned on its head, with Force India, which couldn't crack the top 10 on headline pace, actually producing the most competitive long run courtesy of Sergio Perez.

But with qualifying pace looking underwhelming, this speed might never be unlocked in the race given how difficult it is to pass during the Spanish GP.

The below ranking, which disregards Sauber because the team did not complete a meaningful long-run and is therefore considered an unknown quantity, shows how tight this battle will be.

The midfield battle (based on 13-lap run)
4 Force India, 1m33.161s
5 Toro Rosso, 1m33.286s
6 Williams, 1m33.425s
7 Lotus, 1m33.549s
8 McLaren, 1m33.688s

GARY ANDERSON: "We haven't seen any great revolution in the competitive order. McLaren was much stronger on single-lap pace than it is on the long runs, which is surprising.

"One of the things that really stands out is how big the offset is throughout the field for raw pace versus long runs, with a five second offset, when you would expect 90kg of fuel to cost you only three seconds.

"The Williams doesn't look to be getting better and still has the combination of strong front end with a nervous rear, that makes things harder on the tyre.

"Force India looked nothing special, but was OK on the long run, while Lotus does appear to have improved. I watched Pastor Maldonado on his medium run and on his quick lap he did lose some time with traffic, so it's encouraging for Lotus."