Lewis Hamilton was in upbeat mood after practice in Brazil having topped both the morning and afternoon sessions.
Hamilton says he was encouraged by the pace of the McLaren on a day when the high temperatures made it difficult for everyone.
“It’s so hot here and I think the track temperature went up 10C or something like that,” said Hamilton. “You’re just sliding around, it’s almost like the tyres are melting as you’re going round, it’s just so hot. Our runs were still pretty good though. The laps are so fast. It’s obviously 1m14s, when I’d done my long run I felt I’d only done 10 laps maybe, but I’d actually done 15 laps, so it’s not so bad.
“It depends on what fuel loads people were on, but we’re definitely strong, just as we were in the last three or four races. But here’s it’s so tough on the tyres, I hope that we can continue to compete with them tomorrow.
“The single lap pace was good. I struggled a little bit on the prime, but on the option was able to get a very good lap out. At the time it was eight-tenths faster than anyone, although they closed the gap towards the end. Sebastian had several attempts, and he got close, but it didn’t look like he could match the time, so that’s a positive for us.
“We are definitely there or thereabouts this weekend. The long runs are the hardest part, looking after the tyres. Red Bull have generally been very good at that. We seem to be a little bit quicker than them on the long run, at least we’re quicker than Webber.”
Hamilton said he was savouring his final weekend with McLaren: “Yeah, every moment. I just took some pictures of my engineers, I’ll take some pictures of my mechanics later. This was one of the best Fridays for a long, long time, so it’s a perfect Friday to have.”
Adam Cooper F1 