Lewis Hamilton sends former team Mercedes F1 title warning

Lewis Hamilton has sent his former outfit, Mercedes, a warning that it is "not impossible" for Ferrari to catch them, following a highly encouraging Australian Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion started in seventh but was third by the end of the first lap, following an electric start and two excellent overtakes on Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad.

He quickly settled into the race and was in genuine podium contention, until Ferrari opted against pitting Hamilton and Charles Leclerc during two virtual safety cars.

Mercedes chose to double-stack eventual race winner George Russell and second-place finisher Kimi Antonelli, costing the Ferrari duo valuable seconds when the pair pitted under green flag conditions.

This dropped Hamilton to fourth, and while he had the pace to catch Leclerc, time was not in the 41-year-old's favour to attempt a move for a maiden Ferrari podium.

Despite missing out on the rostrum, Hamilton took significant satisfaction from the opening race of the season and is confident Ferrari can be caught.

"All weekend I've been really, really strong," Hamilton told Sky F1. "Qualifying really didn't show the true pace. I think we had a few problems through qualifying, which meant that I was further back than I should have been.

"Anyways, got into today, of course, none of us really knew what the true case was going to be, but I felt great from the get go, and was obviously closing a gap right at the end to Charles. 

"A couple more laps, I think I would have had Charles, so maybe one or two more laps. So there's lots and lots of positives to take, we've got a lot of work to do to catch Mercedes, but it's not impossible.

"So really, thank you to everyone back at the factory, really, really proud of the work we got. But we still have to push and keep digging deep."

Hamilton's Ferrari belief

The opening race was hugely encouraging for Ferrari in third and fourth, with its time deficit to Mercedes not painting a true picture.

It would appear the Silver Arrows do have an advantage over one lap, but based on Melbourne's Albert Park, Ferrari's race pace is very similar.

Hamilton truly believes the Maranello-based outfit can catch his former team this year, which could set up a title fight.

Asked if he really believes Ferrari can catch Mercedes, Hamilton replied: "That's what I said. I do believe we can close the gap. I think it's not going to be easy. 

"We've got a lot of work to do to close it, because it's quite significant particularly on a single lap.

"We need to find out whether it's power or battery power, but the car is just as quick through the corners. So we just got to keep pushing."