A shocked Lewis Hamilton has admitted to the fact that Mercedes are much slower than Ferrari and Red Bull and said their rivals are in another league after the seven-time world champion could only finish fifth in Bahrain GP qualifying on Saturday.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc bagged pole for the season-opening Grand Prix, while Red Bull's world champion Max Verstappen finished second ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
“The guys ahead of us are in another league,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “In general, I'm happy where we are, it's not the front row but we will make improvements as well as we can. These guys (Red Bull and Ferrari) will be going ahead, we are not in the fight with them, my battle is with the guys behind us. Their performance was quite a bit ahead of us.”
Hamilton hoped Mercedes improves quickly to reduce the gap with their rivals. “I'm not saying I'm relieved, in general I'm really happy compared to where we've been in the last two weeks. It has been a bit of a nightmare to drive, but we kept working and I'm proud of everyone,” Hamilton added.
