Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says 🎃he has “no idea” where Mercedes stands in the pecking or🉐der compared to its rivals on the eve of the 2020 season.

Mercedes enjoyed a strong pre-season test at Barcelona and topped the timesheets on two of the six days, including se♎tting the fastest lap of the winter courtesy of Valtteri Bottas.

Despite racking up the most mileage of any team across the two weeks of running, Mercedes’ winter programme was not without issues as it encountered a number of engine-related problems that left Hamilton co🌺ncerned about reliability heading to the season-opener in Melbo🌊urne.

“I have no idea where we stand compared to the others,” Hamilton ღsaid.

"The team wil🧸l probably have a better idea th♛an that - I don’t know where everybody else is.

“I think I understand the car well so I’m comfortable and confident in terms of getting i꧙n the car for Melbourne and knowing that I’ll be able to attack and extract the most from it.

“But whether that’s going to be enough to be ahead of ot☂hers, we’ll find out.”

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has repeatedly downplayed his side’s chances heading into the new campaign as the Scuderia large𒁏🎉ly stayed away from the top of the timesheets.

Asked whether🦩 he bought Ferrari’s self-assessment following testing, Hamilton replied: “I don’t pay attention to anybody else through testing.

“We literally just fo﷽cus on our job and I literally have no idea what other people have been saying.

“Of course I’m aware of people bigging us up and talking themselves do♊wn so they can potentially overachieve unexpectedly or whatever, but it doesn’t make♊ any difference.

“P✅eople seem to think it’s a psychological battle but it’s really not. Only for the weꦑak-minded maybe, but for us it doesn’t affect us whatsoever.”