LEWIS HAMILTON was today facing another fight for respectability after slipping from perfection to frustration in the space of 10 days.
Hamilton was struggling with the set-up and balance of his McLaren ahead of today's qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix .
That was in stark contrast to last week's test at the same Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona when the 23-year-old w
as delighted with his car following recent modifications.
Although Hamilton was third quickest in first practice, he was half a second down on the flying Ferraris as world champion Kimi Raikkonen narrowly edged out Felipe Massa, who celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday.
But then in the second 90-minute session, when the teams ran on varying fuel loads, Hamilton was a lowly 11th, even behind the Force India duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil.
Reigning world champion Raikkonen was again out in front, leaving Hamilton acutely aware he could face an uphill struggle to be within touching distance of the Finn.
He said: "When we were here last week, on the first day in testing, the car was perfect. Now we've come here and it's completely different. We've had to change the set-up and we've an idea on where we should be going. I wouldn't say I'm comfortable with the balance, although we are working hard to improve it, more so than at other places.
"There was also too much oversteer, and although we tried a lot of different things, we didn't make the progress we wanted."
The full article contains 262 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
