Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull's current level of performance is not on the same level as Mercedes and Ferrari after a difficult first two races.

The Milton Keynes-based team has shown flashes of their potential, with Daniel Ricciardo setting the fastest lap in Australia one such example, but too often external factors have prevented them from showing their true pace against the top two.

In Melbourne, both cars were mired within the midfield pack until the local favourite was able to challenge Kimi Raikkonen in the closing laps.

Then in Bahrain, the well-documented incident between Hamilton and Max Verstappen forced the Dutchman into retirement with Ricciardo pulling off at almost the same time on Lap 2 due to an electrical failure.

Over a single lap, a gap does remain between Red Bull and the others though it is smaller than it was in 2017, nevertheless, the world champion was expecting more.

"The team has the potential to win races," Hamilton said on Thursday. "In testing, they looked a lot faster than they have done in the last two races.

"But so far they are not operating on the same level as Ferrari or Mercedes. Ferrari have almost been flawless, and we are working on being flawless."

Looking more at the battle with the Scuderia, the 33-year-old claims a combination of luck and doing a better job has been important in Sebastian Vettel's early success but weaknesses remain.

"The full package is getting a one-two and neither of us have done that," he stated.

"You can’t say they are perfect and neither are we, but it is very close between us and it’s going to be interesting to see how we perform from track to track.

"They’ve really picked up their engine programme, it’s really taken a big step into this season."

Another close battle is on the cards this weekend in China with the four Mercedes and Ferrari drivers covered by just over a tenth of a second in practice.

Interestingly, despite his remarks, Hamilton does see both Red Bull and the Italian team as viable threats.

"Ferrari were quick and Red Bull looked really fast on the long run," the Briton said. "It's good to see all the times so close, but it means that we really need to bring our A game.

"We need everyone in the team to be on it throughout the weekend because it is a joint effort.

"The balance of the car is good, but we have some fine-tuning to do on it tonight," he added.