Lewis Hamilton has conceded the Red Bull’s are much, much quicker than his McLaren after Sebastian Vettel took the first pole of the year with ease.
“The Red Bull is ridiculously faster than anyone else’s car,” Hamilton told the media. “It’s insane. The downforce they had on their car last year was at some points just about double what we had.
“Even at the end of the year they had so much more than us, even though we had won a couple of grands prix.
“They [Vettel and Webber] have both got the fastest car by quite a big step. They should be quite a lot further ahead in general.”
McLaren’s historic rivals, Ferrari, took a 1-2 in Bahrain despite the pace of the Red Bull’s, thanks to a spark-plug issue on Vettel’s car.
Hamilton reckons the McLaren is closer to the Ferrari, but there is still a gap to close of around half a second.
“Fernando I think was very quick in the race and they are obviously a little bit closer, but it’s a good half second.”
McLaren battled with Mercedes on track, in the end the McLaren of Hamilton came out on top, passing Rosberg in the first and only stop, whilst Button came in behind Schumacher.
“We are kind of on the same level as Mercedes I would say.
“We just did maybe a better job at the weekend but… it’s a battle between us and Mercedes to see who can step up and improve faster and do a better job,” he added.
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