Hamilton qualified in third place for the Spanish Grand Prix but found himself a second off the pace of the leading Red Bull of Mark Webber.And although he expects that the gap will be less in race-pace, the McLaren driver concedes that beating the Red Bulls on Sunday afternoon may be a step too far.
"The old circuit is still there at the last two corners, I could use the (old, faster) last two corners to match their pace if I don't take the chicane... otherwise, no!" he joked.
"They have one second in qualifying, probably a second and a bit. But we will push as hard as we can, and push to save tyres in the run.
"We've been closer in previous races. I think we will be closer than one second (in race pace), but whether it is within a tenth or so we will see."
The Brit, though, is not letting Red Bull's clear advantage get him down.
"F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, nothing comes easy. They have just done a better job. We are second quickest, we can't complain too much.
"I hope at some stage we have a significant improvement with the car so we have a proper race with these guys."
As for concerns that the flat-spot he suffered during qualifying when he made a mistake at the entry to Turn 10, Hamilton is confident it won't bother him.
"I don't think it will," he said when asked if the flat-spot would cause him problems.
"I mean I do have a flat spot but fortunately I can start on those tyres and we can rebalance the wheels, so it shouldn't be a problem for the race."
Source: Planet-F1
