Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel agree Mercedes’ pace in the corners is countering the Ferrari’s power down the straights.
The Silver Arrows claimed an impressive 1-2 in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, with Valtteri Bottas putting one over his world champion teammate as they sat three-tenths up on the Scuderia.
For the world champion though, having been just thousandths of a second behind the Finn was a relief in itself.
“I didn’t give up, I kept pushing right until the end,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “Big congratulations to Valtteri, he’s been stellar all weekend. I’ve been struggling and fighting the car all weekend.
“We’ve been chipping away, I’m much happier as at one point it was eight tenths. To be as close as we were at the end is fantastic.
“It’s an incredible result for the team. There’s a little bit more time left on the table but I’ll try and again tomorrow.”
His main praise though was for his Mercedes team, who started the week fearing the speed of the Ferrari would be too hot to handle.
“[Ferrari] are particularly quick on the straights but it’s evident this weekend we’ve managed to pull some performance from the corners, so just great work from the guys back at the factory,” Hamilton added.
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Vettel too was taken back by the handling but does think the race could be a different story.
“They are bloody quick in the corners,” he said. “[But] when we get close we have an advantage on the straight line so maybe we can do something there.”
The German will have to do some overtaking too as he starts third on the grid for Sunday’s race.
