Lewis Hamilton fears Ferraris will 'disappear into the distance' after impressive Bahrain pace

Lewis Hamilton has warned he could be left watching the Ferraris disappear into the distance at the Chinese Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

And the defending world champion tipped Charles Leclerc for greatness after being gifted victory yesterday in Bahrain after the hybrid system on Leclerc’s Ferrari failed.

“If they have this speed in the next race, we’ll be watching them disappear,” said Hamilton. “We’re going to be working hard to understand where we went wrong and if we can improve the car.”

It was a second Mercedes one-two from two races, Hamilton flipping the order with Valtteri Bottas from the previous race weekend in Australia.

The five-times world champion also predicted 21-year-old Leclerc was more than capable of bouncing back from his setback. “He thoroughly deserved the win,” said Hamilton. “He did an exceptional job all weekend. It’s tough for him to go through what he went through. He’s strong, so he’ll bounce back and grow. This will be another layer in his young greatness. I’m looking forward to many battles with him in the future.”

Despite his inexperience and issues with the car, Leclerc comfortably eclipsed team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who spun when being passed by Hamilton with 20 laps to go.

Hamilton’s former team-mate Nico Rosberg said: “We’ve seen the same Sebastian Vettel again as throughout the end of last year. First of all, the team messes up in qualifying, he gets angry. Then come the race day, one wheel-to-wheel battle and he spins it away completely.”