Hamilton boosted as Imola unlocks Pirelli "sweet spot" for Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton believes Imola has unlocked a "sweet spot" in the new construction of Pirelli tyres after Mercedes dominated Emilia Romagna Grand Prix practice.

Hamilton ended the day just 0.010secs behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas as the Finn topped the order with a time of one minute 15.551s

Hamilton had struggled to get to grips with the new Pirelli rubber in the extreme heat at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

But after the first two sessions of the weekend, the reigning champion pointed to the cooler Italian temperatures as a key factor in finding an operating window for the tyres.

Asked if his feel with the tyres had improved at Imola, Hamilton replied: “It’s way better.

"When it’s this cool, it’s obviously a nice day but the last place we were at, Bahrain, it’s so warm that when you go out the temperature is just going up.

"They were overheating from entry to middle to exit of each corner. That is why here you are in a nice sweet spot with the temperature so it’s not so bad.”

Hamilton took victory in Bahrain despite Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominating all three practice sessions and qualifying, leading Mercedes to believe it was now the hunter and not the hunted arriving in Imola.

In Friday's second practice, however, a driveshaft failure after just five laps brought Verstappen's day to a premature end and prevented Mercedes from discovering the true pace of its rival during the session's qualifying simulations.

Hamilton added: “I don’t think we have seen the best from the Red Bulls yet.

"They look like they’ve had quite messy sessions with traffic and that so it will be interesting to see tomorrow just how quick they are.”

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