• European Grand Prix - FP2

Hamilton worried by blown-diffuser cars

Lewis Hamilton says he is worried by the pace of his rivals © Getty Images

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• Race:
• European Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

Lewis Hamilton confessed himself slightly concerned by the pace of his rivals after he finished fifth fastest in Friday's free practice session for the European Grand Prix.

With several other teams opting to run the exhaust-blown diffusers so successfully pioneered by Red Bull, Hamilton said he thought some cars would be 'difficult to touch' in Valencia.

"The first session looked quite good for us. But it was always going to be interesting to see how quickly the blown-diffuser cars could get up to speed - and they looked very competitive this afternoon, particularly over a single lap," said Hamilton. "And the grip they appear to have through the high-speed stuff could make them difficult for us to touch."

Despite his reservations, Hamilton still said he thought McLaren's race pace would be good.

"Nevertheless, I still 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 cars while they have an advantage."

Team-mate Jenson Button, who finished the day ninth fastest, also said he was wary of the other four teams opting to run the blown-diffuser system.

"I'm reasonably happy, but there are a lot of quick cars out there," said 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, and many teams do. Anyway, it evens out over the season but we've just got to fight it out here and get the best out of what we've got.

"This is a car we know, so we'll tweak it and try to make sure we don't make any mistakes this weekend. It's going to be a tough weekend for us, but an enjoyable one too, and we should still get some good points from it."

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