“It was a night and day difference and feeling compared to the first lap and the first test day in 2009. I have a positive feeling. I've obviously kept a close eye on the development of the car and the results we got at the end of 2009 – so seeing this car evolve and having the input into it, I was very excited to get in the car today to see what parts we have improved,” said Hamilton.
However, the British driver admitted that there are some areas that the McLaren mechanics need to work on in order to further improve the performances of the MP4-25.
“Hopefully we would have got rid of a lot of the bugs that we had in the previous car. So I got in today and it felt good. I got out smiling and all the problems I had generally with the last car I didn't have with this one. There are still of areas we can improve on,” added the Brit.
Taking the car to the track after test driver Gary Paffett, Hamilton got into pace immediately, jumping to 3rd overall in the time-scoring reports after the very first hour. However, his afternoon running was not as strong as the one in the morning, as he eventually had to settle for that same position until the end, behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa and BMW's Kamui Kobayashi.
Jenson Button will now take over from Ham for the final day of testing in Valencia, at the wheel of the MP4-25. Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher are also to test their cars on Wednesday, for Ferrari and Mercedes respectively.
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