Ferrari driver Sebastien Vettel says Mercedes are still the team to beat

Sebastian Vettel believes Mercedes are still the favourites for the constructors’ and drivers’ crowns, despite Ferrari’s winning start to the season.

Vettel steered Ferrari to their first victory since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix at the Australian Grand Prix 11 days ago, 10 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton. But despite the dominant nature of the win, the four-time world champion said before this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix: “I think Mercedes still has to be the favourites. We had a very strong first race but the way we look at it inside the team is we go race by race. We have a good package which puts us in a good place.

“We know there’s a lot of things we need to do to keep up with them [Mercedes] and keep in a position we are in now to fight for good races.”

Ferrari have not won back-to-back grands prix since Fernando Alonso in 2010 but, on the basis of the Melbourne performance, Vettel ought to be in contention in Shanghai, despite seemingly lacking the qualifying pace of Hamilton.

After a difficult 2016 season in which Ferrari dropped back from their promising previous season, Vettel described his Australian win as “the best medicine to everyone”.

But he said it was too early to say Ferrari were a step up from 2016.

“After one race, it’s easy to say this season is better than the last, but it’s still only the start of the season,” said the German.