Friday practice pacesetter Lewis Hamilton says that he feels the Woking team are "there or thereabouts" on pace for the Brazilian GP weekend, despite admitting that it was hard to gauge Red Bull's pace from Friday's runs.
Hamilton ended up fastest overall on Friday at the Interlagos track, after topping the faster afternoon practice session for the McLaren squad.The session-topping performance continued his late-season upturn in form after a difficult second half of the season for the 2008 champion.
And Hamilton said afterwards that while Red Bull's pace was hard to pinpoint, he nevertheless felt that McLaren were in a good position for the rest of the weekend.
"The car felt really good today- on both high and low fuel. And degradation on the new option tyre seems pretty acceptable," he smiled afterwards.
"I was still doing decent times at the end of my run. I think there's still a bit more to come, but we're looking strong for the rest of the weekend."
He added: "I also felt quite comfortable with the set-up changes we made going into this afternoon's session, and our long runs seem to be pretty competitive too.
"You never know what the Red Bulls are doing, but I'm comfortable that we're there or thereabouts."
Team mate Jenson Button, meanwhile, had a difficult day, and admitted that his seventh-fastest time was testament to the issues he had endured with the faster soft Pirelli tyre.
"The two tyre compounds we're using this weekend are closer to each other than we'd expected. The prime is working well, and I think we understand where we are with it, but I'm struggling a little with the option," he mused.
"I couldn't quite get a balance on either low-fuel or long-run – it just wasn't really working with my set-up."
He went on: "Happily, we know some of the reasons for that – we just didn't have time to try those solutions today. But we've made the soft tyre work all year, so I'm confident we'll get it right tomorrow."
Team boss Martin Whitmarsh, meanwhile, admitted that all of the teams would have one eye on the weather for the rest of the weekend, but said he was happy with the team's work so far.
"As always in Sao Paulo, the weather threatens to play a greater part in proceedings over the next few days," the team boss tempered.
"But, for the moment, the sun is shining, we're pleased with the progress we've made, and we're confident in the direction we've chosen for the rest of the weekend."
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