"If it's wet, that can help us at the moment," the driver said after Friday's practice in Barcelona, where he failed to finish higher than eleventh. According to Formula 1's official weather service, there is a 60 per cent chance of rain for qualifying.

In the dry, Mercedes had not yet managed the hoped-for big step forward despite numerous new parts. 

Hamilton spoke of a "difficult day" and added: "With the pace today, it should be difficult to get into the top 10. But it's very close."

He said the race simulations had looked "not terrible", and "now we need to work on translating that onto a fast lap."

A good starting position is eminently important in Barcelona. Despite the more than one-kilometre-long start-finish straight, overtaking is traditionally difficult at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Tyre management a key factor

Tyre management could become another key factor in Sunday's race.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko thinks that most drivers will have to make two stops after a change in the course made it faster and therefore even more stressful for the material.

Either way, Red Bull star and reigning world champion Max Verstappen is considered the favourite, summing up after setting the fastest time of the day on Friday.

"We had a good day," Verstappen said after practice. The Red Bull car looked good on a fast lap and in the race simulations - sentences that the 103-time Grand Prix winner Hamilton has not said for a long time.