Hamilton: Ferrari will be "hard to beat"

Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari's straight-line speed will give them an advantage at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

Sebastien Vettel won the first two races of the season for Ferrari, and Hamilton is wary of the threat he poses.

“Ferrari were not far behind in the last year here,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton is the most successful driver in China, winning the race five times, but he believes there is more to come from the car.

“I think the full job, full package is getting one-two with both drivers, and neither of us have done that.

“So you can’t say they’ve been perfect and neither have we. It’s going to be very interesting to see how we perform from track to track being that one track might suit them more than us and vice-versa.

“But they’re faster than us on the straights and as quick as us through the corners so they’ve really picked up their engine programme, taken a big step into the season. It’ll be interesting to see how their plan for reliability will be. There’s a long way to go.”