Lewis Hamilton urges Ferrari to put up title fight as dominant Mercedes make history in Baku

Lewis Hamilton wants Ferrari to finally launch a championship challenge at the next race in Spain.

Mercedes made history as the first team to seal a one-two in the opening four grands prix of a season, with Valtteri Bottas edging out the Briton at Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku to lead his team-mate by a point in the drivers’ championship.

Ferrari already find themselves 74 points back in the constructors’ standings and Hamilton said he wanted more than just a title fight against his Finnish team-mate.

“Hopefully, at some stage, Ferrari will be in the mix with us,” Hamilton said. “This weekend, I think they had the performance to be on the front row with both of their cars. They’re going to have to pick it up if they want to fight us.”

Ferrari were again well off the pace and Sebastian Vettel admitted the team were scratching their heads over how they had slipped back after their dominance in winter testing.

“We have the tools, we just need to put the package together,” said the German. “I don’t think our car is slow. The Mercedes is very fast but it seems easier for them to click.

“The secret this year seems to be the tyres and maybe we are missing something. We struggle a bit more with the tyres than in previous years.”