Hamilton tips Red Bull to be quickest in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton has tipped Red Bull to arrive at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with the strongest car in Formula 1. Though Ferrari were the headline pace-makers in pre-season, the reigning world champion believes Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will be bolstered by upgraded machinery in Melbourne.

Sebastian Vettel won the curtain-raiser last season after Ferrari once again set the fastest laps of testing, while the Scuderia star and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen each delivered never-before-seen lap times at the Circuit de Catalunya last week.

Vettel obliterated the unofficial lap record that Ricciardo had set a day earlier, but Hamilton does not believe Mercedes' chief threat in Australia will come from the red cars.

"I think this year is going to be exciting," Hamilton said at a sponsor event.

"Last year there was a big difference between teams in the beginning, and then they got closer - but this year I think it starts this close and then it's going to overlap, and separate, and overlap during the year, as people are developing.

"Because we don't bring upgrades at the same time, I think Red Bull will bring something at the first race, which will be interesting to see.

"I think Red Bull are the fastest at the moment, potentially. They have some sort of upgrade coming, of some magnitude, two-to-four tenths or something like that - that's what I heard."

Last season's battle at the front between Mercedes and Ferrari was an intriguing battle of cars with much different design philosophies.

As the Silver Arrows enjoy a power advantage over their rivals, Ferrari and especially the Renault-powered Red Bull will need to find ways to get the better of Mercedes in the corners.

Hamilton said of Red Bull's approach: "Their car, they have generally a slightly different philosophy, they always build a car that has lots of downforce.

"Their maximum downforce has always been more than everyone else's downforce.

"But that doesn't work always everywhere. Some places where you have longer straights - cause they're very slow on the straights, normally, but they're fast through the corners. This advantage shifts through the year.

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"I'm super confident in my team and the work they've done, I just think it's going to be close."

Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas was more guarded on the challenge posed to the Silver Arrows.

"I think they both look strong," he said. "It depends on the early-season development. I wouldn't underestimate either of those.

"My feeling is it's going to be a three-team battle. That's how we're going to at least start the year."