Mercedes duo braced for ‘tough battle’ against faster Ferraris

Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes is in for a “tough battle” against its direct Formula 1 rival Ferrari during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. 

Ferrari dominated Friday’s running by topping both sessions as the Italian team bounced back in style from its mysterious lack of competitiveness at the Melbourne season-opener. 

In the more representative FP2 session - held under the lights in Sakhir - Sebastian Vettel spearheaded a Ferrari 1-2, with Hamilton over half a second down as the fastest Mercedes driver. 

“It's hard work out there for everyone; FP1 is incredibly hot, the track is at 50 degrees, so everyone is struggling with the tyres,” Hamilton explained. 

“The Ferraris have been quick from the get-go and picked up more pace from there, so it's completely different to what we've seen in Melbourne. 

“At the moment it looks like the Ferraris are ahead, so we have to keep our heads down, keep working, analyse things tonight and try and come back stronger tomorrow. 

“I think as we get to qualifying, everything will get a little bit closer, but it is going to be a tough battle.”

Both drivers reported some initial balance issues throughout FP1 but said the problems had been rectified by the second session, while early 2019 championship leader Valtteri Bottas echoed his teammate’s comments about Ferrari’s pace. 

“FP1 is always a bit difficult in Bahrain because the track is still a bit dusty and the track temperatures are very high, much higher than they are in qualifying and the race,” Bottas said. 

“The car balance didn't feel great in the first session, but we made some changes in between the session and the car felt much better in FP2. 

“It looks like it's going to be very close between us and Ferrari, they are clearly faster around here than they were in Melbourne. 

“So we will have some work to do to improve the set-up of our car and I personally also have room for improvement left. It looks like it will be a hard fight tomorrow, which should make qualifying very exciting.”