Hamilton heaps pressure on Ferrari, labelling them favourites

This year, Hamilton will be face renewed competition from Ferrari and Red Bull, who are expected to close the gap on dominant Mercedes, as well his new team-mate Valtteri Bottas of Finland.

His job brief is to make the sport and the racing as attractive as possible despite Mercedes domination – they have won the last three drivers and constructors’ titles and 51 of the last 59 Grands Prix.

“Sebastian is normally a lot more hyped”. I would love that.

Hamilton said he couldn’t judge the pace of the Red Bulls in testing, saying they were “quite far behind” and he didn’t see many upgrades to the cars. Quite whether this results in better racing remains to be seen, as overtaking may become more hard, risking a run of processions through 2017. I see it as a great opportunity for my career to fight for wins and hopefully even for the championship. See the ups and downs of the best doing the best.

“I feel I’m ready to race and ready to bring the vehicle to where it should be”, Bottas said. “I’ve got bruises and bumps where I’ve never really had them before”. I can tell he’s trying to keep a lid on it.

Ferrari, who have shown flashes of brilliance in the past few years, and who lost their technical director James Allison to Mercedes last year, have seemingly woken up, with Raikkonen displaying serious pace in pre-season testing.

“This year it is going to be like a development race with the new regulations”. The force you feel on your body and on your neck is much higher.

“After Abu Dhabi, it was certainly a tough time for him, but like many top athletes he has been able to digest things and prepare well for the new season”, he said. “I’m assuming they’re bringing something here, I’m excited to see what they do bring”. The company is being run by Chase Carey, former ESPN marketing director Sean Bratches, and former Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn.

He added: “I think for me it is a great opportunity”. ‘Mercedes have been in very strong form over the past three years, ‘ he said.

It is hoped that the sweeping regulation change brought in over the winter with the aim of making the cars faster will make for better racing, with teams challenging the recent dominance of Mercedes.

But Sebastian Vettel said it is “very clear” his team is still playing catch up to the German giants.

Close Modal Window Hang on for a minute.we’re trying to find some more stories you might like. The Spaniard, still considered by many to be the best driver in the sport, is facing up to another year on the periphery at McLaren with his absence at the front seemingly the only guarantee heading into the new season. “As the season goes on obviously, I’m sure the cars will have big progression”.

Vettel said pre-season testing lap times meant little heading into the first race of the new season. We’ll find out this Sunday, when the five red lights go out at Melbourne.

Hamilton, sharing the stage with the four-time champion, delivered the most perceptive remark of a media call that had a first-day-back-at-school light-headedness to it. Every year is a brand new year, a brand new start and a brand new championship to win. “You just want to beat the others”.