McLaren’s strong practice shows Hamilton can win in Spain
Published:Lewis Hamilton has not been off the front row of the grid so far in the first four races of the Formula One season and he can continue this run to make an impact at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton qualified on pole for the opening two races of the season in Australia and Malaysia, but was unable to transfer this strong position into victory.
The McLaren driver then took second place on the grid in China and most recently in Bahrian, but the wait continues for a first chequered flag.
Despite this slightly disappointing run of results, Hamilton remains second in the overall drivers’ standings, just four points adrift of leader and defending world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Therefore, Hamilton should remain confident that his luck will change soon and McLaren have performed well across the opening two practice sessions at the Circuit De Catalunya.
It was Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button who topped the timesheets, but it is hard to take too much from the sessions as it is unknown how much fuel each individual car was running.
Furthermore, the difficulty in picking a winner is made tougher by the fact that the top six drivers in practice were separated by under half a second.
Lotus and Mercedes both seem to have cars that will push for victory, but they may be too inconsistent to trust over a whole Grand Prix.
However, they are certainly quick enough to potentially claim pole.
Hamilton is 5/2 to start from the front of the grid and the way he has performed during qualifying so far this season makes him tough to oppose.
In the last ten seasons, only Vettel last year has triumphed having not started on pole position and so the fact Hamilton is almost certain to qualify well, makes him decent value at 10/3 to win the Spanish Grand Prix.
