Lewis Hamilton has admitted the feeling of his 2017 Mercedes was what he really enjoyed around the Red Bull Ring on Friday, describing it as "fantastically fast".

The Mercedes driver took charge of the weekend early, leading the way by topping both practice sessions. At the same time, he posted two new lap records around the historic venue in Spielberg, ending the day with a best of 1:05.483s. 

Summing up the day, the 32-year-old revealed a slight issue that affected his afternoon but overall was left more impressed by the performance of his W08.

“It's been a really good Friday with no major headaches to complain about so far,” he said.

“We had to swap out a spark plug during FP2, but the guys did a great job to turn the car around and we still managed to complete our program.

“Most importantly, the car feels fantastically fast here. There's already a nice balance and it feels good out on track. This car is so quick in comparison to what we raced here last year. It's tricky, but a proper thrill to hook up a lap.”

“The team is in good spirits and we're all up for another exciting fight with the Ferraris this weekend.”

As for his team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, the Finn enjoyed a good start finishing third in both sessions, completing the program smoothly despite a trip into the gravel in the afternoon.

Bottas also revealed that new updates were introduced this weekend and the car felt really good around the circuit from the first moments in Spielberg.

“A solid start to the weekend,” he commented. “There's a good feeling inside the team and the car is clearly quick here.”

“It was great to see that the upgrades the team worked so hard to deliver for this weekend worked straight out of the box. Aerodynamically we've made another step forward from Baku, which is encouraging.

“This track punishes you if you make a mistake, and I tested those limits, but that's something I can learn from and build upon for the rest of the weekend. The balance of the car feels good and we'll fine tune the setup some more tonight to be ready for qualifying.

“Ferrari are looking strong here too, so we're expecting another interesting weekend ahead.”