Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes was not bluffing over its testing form after he identified rivals Ferrari as the pace-setters ahead of the first race of the 2019 F1 season.

The reigning world champion said Ferrari is half a second quicker than Mercedes during pre-season testing . Speaking in today’s FIA press conference Hamilton said the testing pace was “not difficult to read, I think it’s quite clear.

“It’s difficult to know what everyone’s doing,” he continued. “Naturally we won’t fully know until we get out in the car tomorrow. Come qualifying you get a better picture and usually over the first few races is when you get an idea of where everyone stands.

“But we said we have work to do, we weren’t talking [bullshit], we have work to do.”

Hamilton described how team principal Toto Wolff “rallied the troops” following the tests in Spain.

“We’ve got some incredible people within the team. The energy is really… it’s inspiring to see so many people so pumped, pulling together, the communication’s better than ever.

“Just after the test I went back and Toto rallied the troops and we all sat together. It’s really impressive to see so many people so passionate about their jobs and so passionate about racing, wanting to do a better job and always wanting to improve and knowing where they can improve. It’s really cool to see, really encouraging.

“I just know they’re the soldiers, they’re the real true fighters within the team and they’re going to be giving absolutely everything to make sure that we progress.”

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2019 F1 season