“Formula 1 cars are so reliable these days. Mercedes has such a solid foundation, they can build on that. But I think Red Bull is good too.

“Max can of course always pull points out of the top hat on circuits that are weaker for Red Bull, which makes me think he will end up with Bottas in the championship [race].”

Tung, meanwhile, tipped Hamilton to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix next week, and said: “If you look at the tests on the basis of observations and figures, Mercedes is still in the lead. Red Bull is just behind it, then there is a hole to Ferrari.

“The top three remains the top three, the only difference with last year is that Ferrari is now a bit further behind Mercedes and Red Bull.”