Lewis Hamilton "in trouble" but sees Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull fight

Mercedes and Ferrari agree that the Chinese Grand Prix should get closer to the first two races See qualifications Saturday at 7am – Sky F1, Sky One

Lewis Hamilton admits he had difficulties with Mercedes' car during the Chinese GP's test session on Friday, but believes that the historic F1 F1 weekend should offer a "very close" battle for the supremacy.

After Mercedes in Australia and Ferrari in Bahrain, both teams won in the first two races of 2019. The first day in Shanghai seemed to indicate that the third set would be a more difficult weekend.

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P2: Bottoms pips Vettel, Verstappen

Ferrari and Mercedes each won one session each, the last gap in practice two-tenths of a second in favor of Valtteri Bottas on Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull, back to form after a bad pbad in Bahrain, finished two tenths from the end, suggesting that he could also have a say in the proceedings, especially in the race.

Hamilton should be in on Sunday, but Sunday, he still has some work to do after his teammate Bottas lost 0.7 seconds.

"I was struggling with the car today, so we have some work to do, especially on my side because Valtteri looked much more comfortable in the car," said the champion. of the world, who had cold tires at the beginning of the second session. .

"We are going to work hard tonight to find adjustments and hope to come back stronger tomorrow.The car has the tempo to compete at the front, we just need to find the right setting."

If Hamilton finds the improvements he's looking for before qualifying on Saturday, he hopes F1 2019 will offer his first real multi-team competition up front.

"It's nice to see how close he is between Red Bull and Ferrari," said Hamilton.

"As we expected, Ferrari are always faster in straight lines, but overall, it's very tight between the best cars and I expect it to be the same tomorrow."

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Ferrari fast but not out of sight
The strength of the Ferrari car in a straight line has been talked about in the preparation of the GP of China.

After opening the tests, Toto Wolff called the situation "scary", while his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner, told Sky F1: "They're fast on straight lines and they also A lot of wings … it's up to us to try … grab them.They're the gold standard right now and it's awesome even compared to a Mercedes. "

But Mercedes' forces in bending on a 16-lap circuit at variable speeds mean that world champions can not be counted.

"I'm expecting them to be very strong here, so if we can be close to them, that's a good sign," Vettel said.

Indeed, Vettel and Charles Leclerc, who had taken the eighth fastest position after problematic qualifying, felt that there were also improvements to be made to the Ferrari.

"Overall happy, but I can feel that there is a lot more in the car, so not quite happy," Vettel said. Sky sports. "There were also more things in me, I think tomorrow will be the key to having a better feeling than today and for everything to be together."

Leclerc missed the last races while Ferrari controlled a cooling system problem in his car and the young man said: "Mercedes and Red Bull are actually pretty close, so it will be an interesting battle.

"We did not think Red Bull was so close, but it's a nice surprise."

Watch the Chinese GP, the 1000th F1 race, live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend. Sky Sports is home to F1 live and exclusive. Learn more here to watch the 2019 season live