Lewis Hamilton has no doubts Mercedes can keep him in the Formula One title hunt this season.
Mercedes and Hamilton have started strongly this year, with the 28-year-old finishing third in the last two races, giving the team back-to-back podiums for the first time in three years.
Ahead of tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton lies fourth in the drivers’ standings, 12 points behind leader and reigning three-times champion Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull.
A year ago, Mercedes threatened a championship challenge when Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix from pole position and was then second in Monaco.
But over the second half of the season Mercedes tailed off miserably, with Rosberg eventually ninth in the title standings and then team-mate Michael Schumacher 13th, while the team slipped to a low of fifth in the constructors’ championship.
Hamilton, however, is confident there will be no such fall from grace on this occasion.
“It’s always difficult for any team to keep bringing updates and keep developing the car,” said Hamilton.
“With this team, I’m sure they’ve brought updates over the years, but it has not really gone their way.
“I feel with the car we have, with the baseline we have, we’re going to be strong everywhere. But it’s about how much progress Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus make, and McLaren as well.
“But this team has made a big step forward compared to last year in terms of how they are developing and improving.”
Hamilton is convinced former team McLaren will again become a threat, despite their troubled start to the campaign after coming into the year with a radically developed car that finds itself off the pace.
In 2009, a year after winning the title, Hamilton suffered a wretched start to the season, but come the summer he was back in winning form, even if it came too late for him to defend his crown. But it proved what McLaren are capable of, and he has no doubts they will come good again.
“You could see at the last race (in China on Sunday) they made quite a big step forward,” added Hamilton.
“If anyone can turn it around then it’s them. They’ve always done that. They’ve got that strength to catch up, they always have.”
On track, Hamilton was 10th quickest in practice for tomorrow’s race due to a struggle with the car’s balance, finishing eight tenths of a second behind Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finn was ahead of Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Vettel, with the Australian 0.030secs adrift and the German 0.128secs down.
Fernando Alonso, winner in China and second quickest in the morning run behind Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, slipped to fourth in the afternoon, but only 0.156secs behind Raikkonen, with Force India’s Paul Di Resta fifth fastest in both sessions.
McLaren appear to be facing another troublesome weekend as Jenson Button and Sergio Perez were 11th and 13th respectively, both over a second down, whilst Marussia’s Max Chilton was 20th, three seconds back.