Hamilton dominates practice sessions in Spain

Lewis Hamilton, going for a fourth successive win this season, was fastest in both practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix in his Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

British driver Lewis Hamilton was quickest in both practice sessions at the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday, 0.449 of a second faster than championship-leading team mate Nico Rosberg in the afternoon and 0.868 ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button in the morning.

"I can feel the positive step forward that we've made with the car," the 2008 champion from Britain told reporters. "Our two practice sessions today went very smoothly, in fact I've not had such a good Friday for a very long time."

Ferrari, whose team principal, Stefano Domenicali, fell on his sword last month, have not won a race for a year and Fernando Alonso goes into his home Spanish Grand Prix knowing that his last victory came here on 12 May 2013.

Sebastian Vettel did not take part in Friday afternoon's practice session because of a wiring loom fault just four laps into his morning run. The Red Bull team have already changed their chassis in an attempt to turn around their faltering start to the season.

McLaren came close to conceding the championship when Jenson Button said: "It's going to be tough for anyone to win a grand prix this year apart from the Mercedes. We are quite a long way behind."

F1's return to Europe is traditionally catch-up time for teams as they introduce upgrade packages to their cars. Mercedes have won all four races so far (they also have three second places) and when they take a look at their would-be rivals, the little dots in their rear-view mirrors, they see something close to disarray.

Ferrari, theoretically, have the most potential because – like Mercedes – their operation is in-house. But we have been talking about Ferrari's potential for a long time now.

This year's championship looks beyond them and they must wait until 2015, and the car that James Allison has been building, before they can mount a serious challenge. Alonso was fourth in both practice runs on Friday.

Red Bull are the likeliest challengers because they have the best-looking car, better even than Mercedes. But their Renault engine has not been good enough and Daniel Ricciardo, who has outdriven Vettel this year, sounded close to despair when he said: "We are making progress, but unfortunately Mercedes don't seem to be slowing down either, so they are a little bit far away.

"I'm a little bit frustrated. It would be nice to fight for a win soon but for now it seems that thirds are – at least today – the best we can do."

Renault, who also supply Lotus, Caterham and Toro Rosso, are under great pressure and, to add to it, it was reported on Friday that they were being hampered by late payments from some of their teams. When the Caterham team principal, Cyril Abiteboul, was asked about this he described the issue as "confidential".

Hamilton, though, and to a slightly lesser extent Nico Rosberg, drive serenely on. In the morning Hamilton beat second-placed Button by almost a second and in the afternoon he returned to finish nearly half a second ahead of Rosberg. Ricciardo was almost a second behind, while Alonso trailed by 1.6sec.

Hamilton is four points behind Rosberg in the drivers' standings despite winning the past three races. On Sunday he attempts to become the 20th driver to win four straight races in a single season, and the other 19 all won the title that year.