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Lewis Hamilton warns Ferrari are a 'true threat' to Mercedes

Hamilton admits he could have moderated curt radio messages and confirms contract delay isn't due to any 'issues'

Lewis Hamilton
Image: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has insisted that Ferrari are the real deal and the Scuderia are a genuine threat to Mercedes’ supremacy this season.

Although Ferrari, fresh from their unexpected victory in Malaysia, are expected to struggle to keep pace with the Silver Arrows in the forecast cool conditions of Shanghai this weekend, Hamilton is adamant that the resurgent Prancing Horse have the speed to win again.

“I honestly think Ferrari are a threat,” the world champion told Sky Sports F1. “It was true pace they had. I have a feeling they must have made a good step in that race. I don’t know how close they’re going to be [this weekend], or if we’re going to be racing, my guess is as good as yours.”

Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg were the first to warn of Ferrari’s likely threat in Sepang two weeks ago before the competiveness of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen became abundantly clear in Friday practice. According to Hamilton, this weekend’s pecking order will also only start to take shape after Friday’s running at the epic Shanghai International Circuit. 

“I think it’s a big guess at the moment. They did a great job and were very, very quick. We could have done a better job at looking after our tyres and been a little bit faster maybe, but they had a true pace," he said. "Whether they have it here, we will have a much better understanding after tomorrow.”

Lewis Hamilton
Image: Lewis Hamilton

Despite downplaying the significance of his defeat in Malaysia and highlighting his acute lack of running in Friday as being a critical handicap that ultimately proved his undoing in Sunday’s race, Hamilton also acknowledged he was not entirely blameless following a series of testy radio exchanges with race engineer Peter Bonnington.

“It wasn’t the easiest weekend and there were lots of things we did wrong and lots could have done better,” he told reporters during a media briefing. “For example, I could have not spoken the way I did to my engineer and if we didn’t have the issue we did during practice we would have known how long the tyres would last and we could have made changes to the car.

“But it wasn’t a big disaster and people have blown things out of proportion and hopefully we will correct that this weekend. We’re not stressed or anything – l believe we will be quicker this weekend.”

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Rosberg, however, has also warned of the potential threat from Kimi Raikkonen, a fringe figure in the opening two rounds.

“He’s a part of it and l wouldn’t count out Kimi, he’s also quick,” Rosberg told Sky Sports News HQ. “They had the best car in Malaysia so we will definitely have to keep an eye on them.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton has soothed any anxiety about his ongoing contract saga by confirming that there are no significant hurdles to overcome before he puts pen to paper on a deal which is expected to make him the highest-paid sportsman in Britain. Having described the deal as being “99.6%” done after the Malaysia race, Hamilton confirmed to Sky Sports on Wednesday that the deal remained unsigned and he was unsure when it would be completed.

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Lewis Hamilton has said that contract negotiations with Mercedes, which he's handling himself, are still ongoing, due - in part - to the size of the contra

“There are still points to be agreed upon, it’s going back and forth," he said. "There’s no real issues and in the last week I haven’t been doing too much contract reading. I don’t feel particularly rushed. I think we’ve agreed that we want to stay together. I’ve got the rest of the year but we will get it done at some stage.”

Asked whether negotiations, in which Hamilton has represented himself, had been a distraction, the world champion replied: “So far, no.”

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