Lewis Hamilton has hailed his Mercedes car 'incredible' following the opening pre-season test of the 2016 Formula 1 season.
Whilst Mercedes might not have topped the timing screens – that honour went to their nearest rival Ferrari – they have certainly topped the mileage table with an unprecedented number of laps across all four days.
Speaking to reporters on the final day of testing, Hamilton admitted he never expected to complete so many laps with so few problems.
"I've never seen anything like it. Just the strength of this car, it just keeps going," Hamilton said. "There are no breakdowns and a lot of reliability.
"After winning two championships, it's so easy to lose focus – but everyone has done an even better job.
"It's just been an incredible week of for testing for us. Before we came here they were talking about doing 800km (172 laps) a day and I thought that was crazy because I've never done that in the past."
Mercedes completed a total of 675 laps – an average of 169 a day – or 3,142km, equal to more than ten race distances.
Hamilton isn't getting too distracted by Ferrari's apparent pace either, admitting he doesn't know the true performance of the W07 yet, having insteas focused on other areas.
"The car looks fantastic," he added. "Obviously we don't know the pace of the car just yet but what we can say is that it's gone the distance and that's half the battle."
Discussion about this post