Hamilton ‘can’t believe’ Mercedes’ advantage

The F1 season is effectively over and Hamilton the 2014 champion, such is the Mercedes advantage

Lewis Hamilton is struggling to believe just how big Mercedes' advantage is over the rest of the field after winning his third race in a row at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

Hamilton led from start to finish and won by over 18 seconds from his team-mate Nico Rosberg at the checkered flag. He is now four points behind Rosberg in the drivers' championship, while Mercedes leads the constructors' by 97 points after just four races.

"I can't believe how amazing the car is," Hamilton said. "The results we're getting are a result of all the hard work we are doing. This team is on a roll, that's for sure. We are going to keep pushing and moving forward, that's what Mercedes want to do by developing and improving the engine and the car. We are going to work hard because obviously the others are pushing to catch us up."

Hamilton was not happy with the car after Friday practice and had to make some changes ahead of Saturday in the hope it would pay off in Sunday's race.

"Surprisingly after FP2 I had to make a lot of changes in anticipation for today even though yesterday was wet. It worked perfectly and I was able to look after the tires. I was really just racing myself. I did lose a lot of time after the first stop, but still it was great. I'm really happy Nico's up here too getting points for the team, who really deserved it."

Hamilton made a late first pit stop to ensure he could complete a comfortable two-stop strategy, but was cutting it fine and ran wide on his in-lap when he locked up his worn front tires under braking.

"Fortunately there's lots of runoff, but basically the front left is the one that's graining and wearing and I'd gone quite a lot longer than planned. The temperature dropped and I locked it but it was okay and I could recover."