Hamilton wary of Ferrari challenge

THE FIRST three races of the Formula One season have made a mockery of pre-season predictions that Ferrari would set the pace and leave Mercedes struggling to keep up.

The standings may not tell the full story, and luck has played a part, but on paper Mercedes are more dominant than ever while Ferrari have fallen well short of expectations.

“We’ve soon got to stop talking about Ferrari this, Ferrari that, Ferrari amazing power... because they are not delivering,” said former grand prix driver and Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle.

Mercedes, the team that have won every championship for the past five years, completed a hat-trick of successive one-two finishes at Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.

And yet five times champion Lewis Hamilton, team mate Valtteri Bottas and principal Toto Wolff were still talking about luck, small margins and tough battles ahead.

“Considering it was a real struggle this weekend, I’m really grateful for the result, said Hamilton, Sunday’s winner.

The Briton was right to point out it would have been a different story if Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari had not lost power while leading in Bahrain.

“I’m just not sure they’ve really hooked up a proper solid weekend just yet,” said Hamilton.

“I think we’re over-delivering a little bit at the moment to our true potential but there’s still more to come,” he added.

“Ferrari are only very good at the ultra-high speed tracks and as soon as there are more corners, then they are struggling. So they’re in the wrong place at the moment.”