Lewis Hamilton sends Mercedes warning in fresh Ferrari 'goal'

Lewis Hamilton has set his sights on providing Mercedes with a challenge for victory during the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

Hamilton will start the race from third on the grid, behind Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, who bagged another front-row lock-out for Mercedes.

The result for the seven-time champion matches his best starting position with Ferrari, taking the result despite suffering from various moments of oversteer during the session.

Hamilton stated the windy conditions made it difficult for him - but expressed confidence that Ferrari has eaten into Mercedes' advantage.

“It was actually a really tough qualifying,” Hamilton said. 

“A bit harder this one, with the wind - it's so gusty today, so putting the lap together was challenging. 

“Charles put in great laps, these guys [Mercedes] put in great laps. So I'm really happy to be up here, and grateful to be up here with these guys. 

“They've been rapid so far this season, but we did some good work. The engineers did some great work over the break. 

“We managed to get a little bit closer to these guys. So that's a real positive.”

Hamilton is still awaiting his first trip to the podium with Ferrari, with Sunday's race setting up a strong opportunity for the 41-year-old.

With Ferrari having rapid starts off the line compared to Mercedes so far this year, Hamilton has suggested he will get his elbows out on Sunday.

“It's still gonna be a challenge, but I'm sure we'll have some fun. I'm looking forward to it. 

“We'll have a lot of fun, we learned a lot in the sprint race. 

“So let's hope tomorrow is not as windy as this, and our goal is to try and break the gap between these guys somehow.”