Lewis Hamilton said the fight to win a fifth world title would be “close” after he missed out to Sebastian Vettel in the Australian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver lost the prompt Ferrari’s Vettel amid a security car period and said Ferrari’s execution was “superior to anything it looked”.
The best on the planet included: “There will be good and bad times. Ferrari are extremely brisk on the straight.
“They will be fast in the following race. I can disclose to you it will be close.”
Hamilton lost the lead in light of the fact that Vettel could pit amid a virtual wellbeing car period, while the Briton had officially made his stop.
This gave Vettel an advantage of 10 seconds over the pit stops – and the problem was exacerbated by Mercedes miscalculating the time Hamilton needed to have in hand to ensure he kept the lead during a virtual safety car period.
“Everyone in the team is feeling it but there is so much positivity to take forward with us,” Hamilton said.
“We still got second. It feels like a dark cloud but it’s not. It is still a positive result. We have a great car, we are still the world champions and with a couple of adjustments we can win the next race.”
Vettel said: “Obviously we were a little bit lucky today, but we take it. We are not there yet where we want to be [in terms of qualifying pace]. If I don’t feel what I want to feel it makes it a bit tricky. But it is a good start and gives us good motivation for the rest of the season.”
