Hamilton, who starts fifth in Barcelona, said his target was to “try and get to the podium. I haven’t been on a podium for a long time”.

His last podium was in Las Vegas last November, when he was driving for Mercedes.

He referred to former team-mate George Russell taking the lead from fourth on the grid in Spain last year.

“Long way down to turn one. We saw the start George got last year,” Hamilton said. “So, I will be trying my best to try and get a good start. And then otherwise, after that, it’s just about managing the tyres here, which is challenging.”

Piastri said he was wary about “the long run to turn one, so I’ve got to make sure we try and get a good start”.

He added: “It will be an interesting race still and it’s not as simple as take the lead at the start and cruise from there. It’s going to be a challenge to manage the tyres, timing your stops right. There’s going to be a lot going on.”

Verstappen said: “It’s time to shine in turn one, yeah. Make it three [cars] wide for the pictures. Why not?

“My long run [in Friday practice] wasn’t bad, but if you look at the difference today, it will be tough to put up a really, really good fight. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not going try.

“Like Oscar said, it’s not all about the start and turn one. You need to be good on tyres. It’s a long race. A lot can happen. So, I’ll just try to maximise what I got.”