Lewis Hamilton has said that he was "pleasantly surprised" by the pace of his Mercedes during practice for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

The 2008 world champion was fastest in both of today's practice sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

The Briton told Sky Sports News: "It's gone really well. It felt pretty bad in the morning, but then we made some changes in the afternoon and it felt pretty good and I was pleasantly surprised.

"I think with the pace we have, it is always important to get pole and it is very difficult to overtake here, even following backmarkers today it was very difficult to get past people.

"So positioning is everything and we will do everything we can to get as high as possible, but the race is obviously the most important thing to look after the tyres."

Qualifying for Sunday's race takes place tomorrow afternoon.