Lewis Hamilton taking Ferrari's smaller gap to Mercedes in Shanghai with a pinch of salt

Russell suffered from a broken front wing in Q2 of Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, and then his gearbox started acting out at the start of Q3, which meant he lost his rhythm despite ultimately managing a lap at the end of the session, ending up second fastest behind his teammate.

But Hamilton remains realistic despite being less than two tenths behind his former teammate and said of the gap: "I do take it with a pinch of salt because I don't think George got a consistent bunch of runs, and I think maybe he would have been a little bit quicker had he had consistent runs.

"But either way, we'll take it, and I think we have improved the car a tiny bit. We haven't changed or upgraded the car; it's not like we've truly halved the gap, but we made a step forward," he explained.

While Hamilton and his fast-starting SF-26 will be a threat to the Mercedes duo at the start of the race on Sunday, he admits it would be a challenge to keep them behind.

He added: "These guys are going to be rapid in the race as they were today, and it's going to be very hard to keep them at bay.

"I think I've got to figure out a different approach tomorrow to go the distance and have pace throughout the race; that's my main focus now.

"The Sprint race wasn't really good for me performance-wise. It was good at the start, but then after that it died off, so I can't have that tomorrow."

Hamilton took the lead in the Sprint Race in China but then ruined his tyres fighting with Russell, dropping back and ending up third behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc, who was outqualified by Hamilton and was fourth, is hoping to capitalize on any opportunities come race day.

He said: "With these cars starting P1, P2, P3, and P4, after three laps, everything is quite chaotic, and we will be there.

"I'm happy with where I start, and tomorrow in the race I normally feel a little bit better here, so I'm looking forward to that," the Monegasque concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)