Sebastian Vettel won’t have it all his own way in 2013 according to Lewis Hamilton, who currently sits just 27 points adrift of the Red Bull driver.
Vettel was unchallenged in his victory at last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix – taking his win tally to two – but Hamilton says he wasn’t surprised and he doesn’t expect that to be the case at future races.
“Seb always seems to win in Bahrain, so that was no real surprise for us,” he told the Sun. “I don’t think it will be the same for Seb in all the races plus Red Bull have seemed to struggle in some qualifying sessions.”
Whilst many expect Lotus and Ferrari to challenge the German, Hamilton believes Mercedes will be there, though he admits to being surprised by their early season pace.
“The Bahrain GP could turn out to be one of the worst grands prix for us because we had a lot of problems with the car. We were on the back foot all weekend, so to come away with a fifth place when I started in ninth, was really pleasing.
“I turned a negative into a positive and now have two thirds and two fifths. When I was joining a new team, I thought it would be a lot worse than that.”