Hamilton 'can't afford' to drop points in China

Lewis Hamilton says he cannot afford to drop any more points to Sebastian Vettel ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix. Vettel has won the opening two races of the season to open up an early lead over Hamilton, but the reigning world champion has a fine record in Shanghai.

Victory in Shanghai last year was Hamilton's fifth Chinese GP win, by far and away more than any driver.

Fernando Alonso is the only other driver to have won the race more than once, having taken the flag in 2005 and 2013.

With three wins in the last four games, Hamilton will once again be expected to shine, but he is wary heading into the race after a string of communication issues with his team across the Australian and Bahrain Grands Prix.

"It's always been a good track for me," Hamilton said of the Shanghai International Circuit. "So I really hope that I'm able to climb the ladder and get back to where we've been working towards being in the last two races.

"There are good things to come, but I am 17 points behind and I can't afford to lose any more points to Sebastian.

"It is very marginal now and so really magnifies the importance of communication and these small little things that can make a difference of seven points or not.

"We can't afford to be losing any races to Ferrari and so we need to get ourselves in a place where we are not only strong in our operations in the car, but also we're in the race.

"Strategy was great [in Bahrain], but to make the strategy work, we need to make sure we are on the same understanding about what we have to do.

"It's probably so hard to understand what it's like out there because you're sweating, there's so much heat, it's so intense, you're fighting for your life.

"But if you don't know what you're fighting for... it's difficult to drive around.

"We are going to sit down and discuss the last two races. The thing is different drivers like to have different feedback. Some drivers probably like to have more than others. If you listen to my radio over the years, I don't like to have a ton.

"But there are times where you need more."