Lewis Hamilton is not convinced by Ferrari playing down expectations ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Mercedes are favourites for the third consecutive season but Ferrari enjoyed an impressive winter, leading to speculation it has significantly cut the gap to the front. Mercedes is not taking the threat of Ferrari lightly and admitting during the winter its rival's times had caught attention.
Ferrari's chairman Sergio Marchionne wants to see a title challenge, though the team has said Mercedes remains the favourite ahead of the opener in Australia. Hamilton, hoping to win a third consecutive and fourth career world championship this season, is expecting to see something in Melbourne.
"I think this year the whole pack looks like it's a bit closer," Hamilton said. "I think they've got something up their sleeve, personally, this weekend. Ferrari is going to be a lot closer than they talk. They are arriving low but are going to perform on a high.
Asked if he welcomed that after two dominant years, Hamilton replied: "Absolutely."
Mercedes enjoyed a massively impressive winter from a mileage perspective, accumulating more than 19 race distances. However, it did not complete any runs on the super- or ultra- soft tyre, something Hamilton admits the team may have focused on had it anticipated completing its mileage target.
Asked if he would have preferred more performance running in Spain, he said: "Definitely. The performance runs are always the more fun. The long runs are always long and less exciting. We did what we had to do. I guess we went into testing with a goal of achieving 800kms a day, we didn't actually think we would do.
"I think [Pirelli's softer tyres] will be okay. We didn't use the super-soft and once we realised how much mileage we had done we may have changed it, who knows. But we will face it as we always do. I don't believe they've changed a huge amount with the tyre so I don't believe it will be a big issue for us."