Hamilton has “no idea” where Mercedes stands against F1 rivals

Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he has “no idea” where Mercedes stands in the pecking order compared to its rivals on the eve of the 2020 season.

Mercedes enjoyed a strong pre-season test at Barcelona and topped the timesheets on two of the six days, including setting the fastest lap of the winter courtesy of Valtteri Bottas.

Despite racking up the most mileage of any team across the two weeks of running, Mercedes’ winter programme was not without issues as it encountered a number of engine-related problems that left Hamilton concerned about reliability heading to the season-opener in Melbourne.

“I have no idea where we stand compared to the others,” Hamilton said.

"The team will probably have a better idea than that - I don’t know where everybody else is.

“I think I understand the car well so I’m comfortable and confident in terms of getting in the car for Melbourne and knowing that I’ll be able to attack and extract the most from it.

“But whether that’s going to be enough to be ahead of others, we’ll find out.”

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has repeatedly downplayed his side’s chances heading into the new campaign as the Scuderia largely stayed away from the top of the timesheets.

Asked whether he bought Ferrari’s self-assessment following testing, Hamilton replied: “I don’t pay attention to anybody else through testing.

“We literally just focus on our job and I literally have no idea what other people have been saying.

“Of course I’m aware of people bigging us up and talking themselves down so they can potentially overachieve unexpectedly or whatever, but it doesn’t make any difference.

“People seem to think it’s a psychological battle but it’s really not. Only for the weak-minded maybe, but for us it doesn’t affect us whatsoever.”