Mercedes: 'Tyres better under control, but will be tight with Verstappen'

Last week Max Verstappen put the pressure on Mercedes, because he knew how to handle his tyres much better than the Mercedes drivers. Tyre problems in warm conditions are a recurring problem for that team and this could also play a role in Barcelona.

It was quite warm again this weekend, but that also gave Mercedes the chance to test the tyres on Friday. According to technical director James Allison, the team has examined the situation well over the past week and have been able to make improvements.

Did Mercedes analysed well last week?

"Today's programme was really constructed on proving out whether that analysis has born fruit", says Allison to Autosport.com. "On all three types of tyre, both in short and long runs, trying to make sure that on this very, very hot track, this demanding, aerodynamic track, that we've got the tyres better under control."

"We still had pretty fair pace on the single lap stuff, but it is going to be tight in the race. We could see in the long runs, us and Verstappen were fairly evenly matched."