By alley - Apr 15, 2016, 7:31 AM ET

F1: Hamilton feels Mercedes chasing Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 rival Ferrari's impressive pace during Friday practice in China is real, and he faces a fight to reach the podium on Sunday.

Ferrari appeared to be in good shape after

Kimi Raikkonen led Sebastian Vettel in a one-two for the team in second practice

with Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Hamilton third and fourth. Raikkonen admitted Ferrari only has strong pace on the super-soft tire but Hamilton believes his rival's pace is genuine.

The reigning world champion will also start no higher than sixth on Sunday, owing to five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

"I think the numbers are real but we shall see," said Hamilton. "I haven't spoken to the engineers but that's my assumption.

"The Ferraris are particularly strong, so it looks like we're going to have a real fight this weekend. I'm behind them. It means that it's going to be harder to overtake them, so getting into the top three is going to be hard on Sunday for sure.

"It seems that we're going to have a bigger fight than we ever have, so it should be good for the fans."

Hamilton said he struggled to find a good balance and that Mercedes has a lot of work to do overnight.

"On my side it has been a difficult day, but you have those days, in terms of getting the balance," he said. "The balance is not that great at the moment but we're working on it.

"There has been a couple of mistakes but it has generally been that we had some brake balance issues on the first couple of runs. We're struggling a little bit in some areas but we'll work hard this evening to try and fix it.

"We've learned a lot – we've just got some improvements we need to make, that's for sure."

Originally on Autosport.com