Lewis Hamilton will be going all-out in qualifying this weekend in order to stand a chance of winning the Spanish GP.
Hamilton looking for improvement in qualifying in Spain
Lewis Hamilton says he will be going all-out in qualifying this weekend in order to stand a chance of winning his first race of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix.
After four fly-away races to start the season, Formula One is back in its European heartland over the next few days, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
Just 20 points separate the top seven drivers, with Hamilton sandwiched in the middle in fourth place, 11 points behind McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.
That is despite the fact Hamilton has arguably been the driver of the season so far, executing a remarkable 32 overtaking manoeuvres in comparison to Button's seven.
Hamilton has had some bad qualifying problems this year, but he cannot afford that in Spain if he wants to win as pole sitters have won the last six races at the track.
Emphasis
"As we did in China, we'll be putting additional emphasis on qualifying," said Hamilton. "It will be more important than ever in Barcelona as traditionally it's always been a track where overtaking is very difficult.
"Given that most cars will only be stopping once, we have less scope for passing, so a good grid position will be vital.
"We've got a couple of fairly significant upgrades coming for this race.
"While it would be naive to think these will move us up the pecking order, because almost all the teams produce a major bodywork update for Barcelona, we're optimistic they'll again help us to bridge the gap to the leading cars.
"Of course, we've proved in the past we've been both extremely capable and prolific at adding performance to the car across the course of the season, so I'm hopeful we're heading into Barcelona in good shape.
"But if it's a dry race, then realistically I think it's going to be harder for us to be up at the front."
Challenge
Hamilton has no reason to doubt they will be challenging Red Bull for supremacy in Spain, even though all teams will be sporting the developments they have worked on over the past few weeks.
According to team principal Martin Whitmarsh, however, that might not necessarily be the case as he feels the car is adapting much better these days to the quicker circuits, such as Barcelona.
"In recent years we've produced successful cars with inherent performance characteristics that enable them to perform better in slower corners," said Whitmarsh.
"While we haven't overlooked high-speed performance, it's not typically been our strongest area, and that might explain our recent loss of form around the Circuit de Catalunya.
"For 2010, however, we feel we have a car that generally excels in high-speed corners, although that in itself isn't enough to suggest a complete reversal of our recent fortunes in Spain.
"But we feel the useful upgrades we're bringing to this race will help us consolidate our position among the leaders and, hopefully, enable us to close the gap to the cars at the front."
