Hamilton praises 'monumental effort' from Mercedes

© XPB 

Lewis Hamilton praised Mercedes' "monumental effort" following another impressive day of testing for the defending champions.

With Nico Rosberg carrying out qualifying-style runs in the morning session which eventually saw him top the times, Hamilton was tasked with a race simulation in the afternoon of the first day of the final test. Having completed 90 laps in second half of the day, Hamilton was full of praise for the work Mercedes has done so far.

"It was a great afternoon of running with great mileage," Hamilton said. "We did a race simulation and after that I feel I'm ready for race one. The car is feeling great and was consistent all day.

"It's been a monumental effort from this team to get the car to where it is today. I'm truly grateful to everyone for every bit of work they have put in so far."

Once again Mercedes completed the most mileage in a day despite the driver change, with the W07 amassing a total of 172 laps on Tuesday. Hamilton will remain in the car on Wednesday morning before handing back over to Rosberg.

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