Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes expected more difficult 2019 season

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he and his Mercedes team expected a more difficult season than what they've had so far in 2019.

The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas managed to win every single race right up until the Austrian Grand Prix; where Max Verstappen showed his quality for Red Bull.

Since then, Verstappen won in Germany and Charles Leclerc has won the last two races for Ferrari. However, it's still been a largely dominant season for Mercedes, who sit on top of the constructors' standings with 505 points - 154 points ahead of closest competitors Ferrari. 

Hamilton, who is boasting first-place in the drivers' standings and is well on course for his sixth world championship trophy, has admitted that after pre-season testing in Barcelona, he expected Ferrari to be the ones with the more competitive package.

“Going into the season, we thought Ferrari were going to be (the) quickest from testing," Hamilton said in Archie Hamilton's interview with the five-time world champion on his YouTube channel. 

"We couldn’t match their times and we thought it was going to be tough. Then, the first race (in Australia), and we’re on the front row. Then they were ahead of us in Bahrain, so we’ve had this manoeuvre of ups and downs, but it’s been the strongest season we’ve had.”