Hamilton disputes Vettel's Mercedes, Ferrari gap call

Lewis Hamilton says it’s too early to accurately provide a figure for the performance gap between Mercedes and Ferrari and shoots down Sebastian Vettel’s theory.

During the build-up to the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel estimated Ferrari were lacking “three or four tenths of a second” to Mercedes going from the Australian Grand Prix performances between the two teams. Hamilton, who led the early stages in Melbourne before Vettel jumped from third to first with an opportune pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car, feels that figure is unlikely to be exact but did concede Ferrari have closed the performance difference on Mercedes drastically in terms of engine power and top speed.

Hamilton says he’ll resist predicting the gap between the two F1 teams until after the opening rounds when form and performance can vary as each squad looks to extract the maximum while also introducing early upgrades.

“I don’t have a figure. Mercedes said in qualifying, they think power-wise we are equal to them, so they [Ferrari] have made a really big improvement,” Hamilton said. “They feel in the race, we might have a slight edge on them.

“But I think it’s hard to say from one race. They had a different run profile to us in the race, they were doing something different fuelling wise compared to us. It’s difficult. You’ll get a much better idea of it in the coming races.”

Hamilton confirmed he’s happy to postpone any final Mercedes F1 contract negotiations until after Liberty reveals its future plans for the sport while admitting the consequences could have a bearing on the length on his next deal. The reigning four-time F1 world champion is reported to be set to sign a new three-year deal with Mercedes worth over £120million.