Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that there is no bad blood between himself and fellow Mercedes-powered driver Michael Schumacher after the two World Champions experienced an on-track set to in Valencia on Friday.
With Hamilton (fifth fastest on the final timesheets) having closed in on Schumacher (11th fastest) on the approach to the final corner, the McLaren man was forced to move off-line as the Mercedes – on the racing line – was preparing to begin a flying lap.
“Well, it’s always difficult to find a gap out there,” said Hamilton. “I saw him ahead of me and I thought he was on a quick lap – then, all of a sudden, he slowed down to create a gap from the guy in front. Around here, it’s all about managing the gap between the guy in front and the guy behind.
“Fortunately, I missed him, so no hard feelings – and I hear he apologised anyway, so it’s all good. There’s no problem. Everyone’s always backing up here at the final corner, so it’s a bit like Monaco in that sense and it shows just how tricky it will be to find a gap in qualifying.”
“I think our race pace will be good and we’ll keep pushing. This weekend is all about us taking as much as we can from the blown-diffuser (f-duct) cars while they have an advantage.”
“I’m reasonably happy but there are a lot of quick cars out there,” added team-mate Jenson Button. “The Ferraris look very fast; so do the Red Bulls, Renaults and Mercedes, but that’s because teams bring out upgrade packages at different points during the season and we don’t have an upgrade for here.”
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:39.283 | 33 |
| 2. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:39.339 | 27 |
| 3. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:39.427 | 29 |
| 4. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:39.650 | 22 |
| 5. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:39.749 | 24 |
| 6. | R. Kubica | Renault | 01:39.880 | 28 |
| 7. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:39.947 | 22 |
| 8. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:40.020 | 30 |
| 9. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:40.029 | 27 |
| 10. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 01:40.174 | 33 |
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| Jenson Button | |||
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| Lewis Hamilton | |||
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| Michael Schumacher | |||
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| More Michael Schumacher photos | |||
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