“I’m not sure [Mercedes] understand why they are in the window as much as we probably don’t understand why we are not.” That was Sebastian Vettel’s opinion in Baku after Ferrari were bested by the Silver Arrows for the fourth race in a row. But ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton appeared to back his rival’s view, admitting that learning how to switch on the 2019 Pirelli rubber was an ongoing challenge for every team on the grid this year – including his.

Several teams have been vocal about their struggles with tyres in 2019, chief among them being Haas and Ferrari, who’ve both identified an inability to get the Pirellis into the right operating window as being at the heart of their early-season difficulties. And ahead of the running in Spain, Hamilton revealed that he understood what they were going through, while hinting that Mercedes might not be entirely on top of the situation themselves despite their record-breaking run of four one-two finishes…

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“Ultimately, the truth is, there's probably no team that truly understands the tyres,” said Hamilton. “We're all trying to learn them and understand them. Throughout each race, you learn them a bit more. We all have a different process in how we manage them, and how we get them to try and operate in the best window.

“In the last race, some struggled more than others in terms of graining, some are graining less than others… I tell you, it's such a science that we're constantly learning about it.”