SEB FOE
Lewis: The main threat to me and Mercedes this season? It has to be this guy
LeWIS HAMILTOn can’t wait for Mercedes to finally face competition at the front of the grid.
And the three-time world champion believes Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is the man in pole position to end his team’s three-year grip on the title.
Hamilton was denied a third successive crown by team-mate Nico Rosberg last year as Mercedes won all but two of the 21 races.
But with the German retiring just five days after being crowned champion, and with a host of rule changes, the Englishman believes Ferrari and Red Bull will mount a serious challenge, beginning in Sunday’s Melbourne curtain-raiser.
Hamilton said: “I see Ferrari being the quickest at the moment and I think they’ll be the favourites. It’s interesting, Sebastian’s usually a lot more hyped and I can tell he’s trying to keep a lid on it but their pace was great in testing.
“I’m very keen to see what Red Bull bring because they were quite far behind through testing, at least compared to Ferrari. I didn’t see them bringing any upgrades so I’m assuming they’re bringing something here and I’m excited to see what they do bring.
“Having more drivers at the front looking for wins is what racing is about. Every year your goal is to beat everyone and the more of a fight you have the more satisfying it is when you win.
“I’m up for a challenge, that’s what I’ve prepared for. There will often be a dominant team and it’s hard to catch up but making drastic changes spices it up.
“I’ve not had a lot of battles with Sebastian on track so I would love to have that again and the fans want to see that.
“I don’t believe any team has won back-to-back titles through rule regulation changes so that is our goal as a team. We want to do something no one else has done and I have every belief in my team that we can do that.”
Vettel won four consecutive drivers’ championships between 2010 and 2013 with Red Bull but has finished no better than third since switching to Ferrari.
And despite impressive performances in pre-season testing, the German was quick to return his rival’s compliment.
He said: “Lewis must be the favourite. Mercedes have been in strong form for the last three years and even though they’ve changed the regulations, if a team is strong one year they will still be strong the year after.
“We have focused on doing our job back in the factory but I don’t think testing times are that crucial. However, we can be reasonably happy.”
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso reckons McLaren need a miracle to avoid an embarrassing start to the new season.
The British team have arrived in Melbourne after a pre-season in which they had reliability issues with their Honda engine.
McLaren completed fewer laps than any other team in testing and it is likely double world champion Alonso, who has won 32 grands prix, and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne will be at the back of the field this weekend.
The Spaniard said: “The team worked hard in the last couple of weeks to improve things but in Formula One there are no miracles in two weeks.
“We are not here to wait for four, six or eight races to improve. We need to improve today.
“If today is not okay we must improve tomorrow. And if tomorrow we don’t qualify in a good position we need to improve for Sunday.”