Lewis Hamilton has predicted a closely fought struggle for power, for Mercedes with Ferrari in this weekend’s GP.
The world champion also warned of the Scuderia in a straight line the speed will be the leaders of the championship, especially difficult to beat in Shanghai.
Contrary to preseason predictions of Mercedes coup in 2018, Ferrari Sebastian Vettel won the opening race of the year.
Mercedes has won the last four Chinese GPS, but Hamilton fears the extra horsepower Galloping horse, found in this year.
“They’re going to be hard to win,” said the reigning world champion F1. “Their speed at rectilinear motion in the last few races were faster than us, and we have the longest straights here. Therefore, I expect that they will be very quick and hard to beat.
“They were faster than us on the straights and as fast as us through the corners. Their program is the engine really made a big step this season. It will be interesting to see how their reliability will be – as it will be for Renault and the United States.
“It should be a good track for us, but I think it will be close.”
History of 2018 at the front of the grid was a marked contrast between the two opening rounds. While Mercedes held a clear advantage of the pace in Australia, Ferrari had the advantage in Bahrain.
“I continue to believe that we are the best team. We definitely have the potential to win races and fight for the championship. But it is important that we all stay on our toes.
“We all need to play our best and it’s even more important this year as it continues to grow because we’re so close. Ferrari very well, and as Kimi [Raikkonen] and Sebastian perform very well and I think that’s a more difficult season than last year. Ferrari had a very fast car and there are millimeters between us.”
Mercedes already talked about the need to bring their ” A ” game for all races, while Hamilton has brought better communication between the Board and cars to maximize their race strategy.
“I hope not, I know we will improve”, – he said. “It’s not scary, it’s just that we can improve and these improvements will help us win.”
How to follow Chinese GP on sky F1
| On Friday 13 April | Sky blog digital F1 live | 3am: P1 live! (Built-2.45 am) | 7am: R2 live! (Capacity-6.45 am) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On Saturday 14 April | Sky blog digital F1 live | 4am: P3 live! (Capacity-3.45 am) | 7 am: qualifying live! (Built-6am) | 8.45 am: show F1 live! |
| Sunday 15 April | Sky blog digital F1 live | 5.30 am: pit lane to live | 6.30 am: the grid live! | 7.10 am: Chinese GP live! |
Hamilton: ‘Wake up call’ not bad
Despite the victory in three of the last four world titles, Hamilton has only once held a direct points lead in the standings of the world Cup after the first two rounds of the season with the growth of Mercedes to the power of F1 in 2014.
Hamilton, who trails Vettel by 17 points at the beginning of this year, I don’t know why he is usually playing catch-up, but said that Mercedes lessons learned so far, in 2018 will be useful for the longer season.
“This is definitely not planned! If you look at Melbourne, performance-wise, I was very happy with our game up to the moment we lost the race,” he said.
“But she was such a strong weekend and I was so him with the best qualifying Lap I’ve done in a long time, the strength in the race.
“I don’t know why we don’t start in the best. But I don’t think it’s bad that we Wake-up in the group because it’s easy for us, and people do this to be more relaxed, more confident or under confident, under or over expect to wait. Just to find the right balance.
F1 2018: how to watch sky sports F1
“You kind of Vkontakte through the first few races, and then find their land and know what to do. No matter how many races you do, it’s part of the racing process. If you’re too aggressive, you lose the entire race and will probably lose more points than you should have. If you are under aggressive, You will not receive any points.
“I think we were strong in those years, and just get a steady pace to begin with. I would like to begin with big impact? Yes. But here’s what we had in Australia and we can script that we had no right to run. We learned that and we take it forward.
“But it’s still second and third – if you have that all the way to the end of the season, then you’re in the right place to win the championship… [although] not when you follow a Ferrari.”
Sky F1’s Simon Lazenby, Martin Brundle to discuss large Abstracts ahead of Chinese GP
Will Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari to make it three wins in a row or maybe Mercedes and Red bull to answer in Shanghai? Watch the Chinese GP, exclusively live on this weekend’s F1. To Make Sky Sports F1.
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Sourse: skysports.com
