Hamilton surprised by gap to Red Bull

Hamilton finished in third position, but nearly a second behind pole-setter Mark Webber as the Red Bull looked untouchable once again in Barcelona.

"It is," he said when asked if the gap to Red Bull was massive. "I don't think anyone expected them to be so fast this weekend.

"However we knew they would be quick, that is quite a decent gap. We will continue to push and focus on the areas we know we are weakest.

"It is great to be up there, they are probably not as quick down the straights which is a bonus so we will see how quick they are tomorrow."

"They have a good edge on the rest of the field, but hopefully when we get to other circuits that are a little less downforce then maybe we can benefit and hopefully we will be closer."

He was still happy that McLaren was the "best of the rest" and reckons the upgrades introduced this weekend are a step forward.

He added: "They are extremely quick throughout the high-speed circuits and high-speed corners. They seem to be ridiculously fast and have more downforce and efficiency than other teams and made a slight step forward from that which has put them more out of the lead.

"It's good to see us up there as best of the rest. We have a good foundation to work on and we have a lot of work to do. This car has a lot of potential and we have to keep working on it. There are avenues we can go down to produce more downforce. The stuff we have this weekend has been a step forward."