Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton has backed Ferrari to return strongly in the wake of its subdued display at Formula 1’s opening round of 2019.
Ferrari trailed Mercedes by seven-tenths of a second in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix before going on to finish almost a minute behind winner Valtteri Bottas in the race.
The outcome was not expected pre-weekend, with Ferrari having shown strong pace during testing, prompting Mercedes to believe it would be entering the weekend on the backfoot.
“No one was expecting to have a gap like that when we came into the weekend,” said Hamilton.
“When we honestly, what I was shown and led to believe, was that from the analyses that we were given was that they were ahead.
“Obviously, it wasn't the case during the weekend, and I'm not quite sure why their performance was how it was.
“But we wouldn't say that we've particularly over-delivered, we did our normal job in the sense of our operations.
“The team did an exceptional job throughout the weekend.
“I don't know what their problem was, but I’m sure they will come back strong in the next races. So we've got to stay on our toes.”
Hamilton was nonetheless coy on predicting the true competitive order, believing it will take until at least after the first four events before a proper picture unfolds.
“I've been here a long, long time and I've never known [the order] after the first race,” he said.
“So usually the first four races you get a bit of an idea where we all stand, and it could be like this for four races, or it could be scattered.
“We've had years where we've had multiple different winners through the first races.
“So I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't tell you. But I can assure you that we will be pushing onwards and upwards from here.”
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