Lewis Hamilton: Valtteri Bottas make worrying Ferrari admission at F1 testing
VALTTERI BOTTAS believes Lewis Hamilton may not be the favourite for the title this season as he has been impressed by the pace of Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton sends 'positive vibes' ahead of F1 season
Mercedes have struggled for pace during the opening seven days of F1 testing.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have often set the pace and are looking good ahead of the new campaign.
It was thought that Mercedes were holding something back as to not let their rivals in on their secrets.
But Bottas thinks his team are maybe just a little slower than their opponent thus far.
"Red Bull seem in good shape as well,” Bottas said.
“I think between us two the differences are not massive.
“In testing it's difficult to read in detail but my feeling - our feeling - is Ferrari is a bit ahead of both of us.
“Honestly the whole field looks like it's a bit tighter than last year or the year before, but it's only guessing. You never know what people bring to Melbourne."
Hamilton suffered an early spin after just nine laps this morning.
And that came after he raised his concerns about some issue with the news Mercedes W10.
“We got a lot of laps which is a good thing, but we've come across a few little hurdles,” said Lewis Hamilton.
"We're just working our way through them, trying to be as diligent as possible trying to understand the causes - which is exactly what testing is for.
“Everyone is working flat-out and I'm sure we will get there.
“You need days like this (on Wednesday) to be able to bring light to the things that we need to work on.”
The 2019 F1 season gets underway in Australia on March 17.