Sebastian Vettel has warned Mercedes that Ferrari are getting closer to challenging them regularly, after he finished third in the Chinese Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton won his second race of the season ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg, but the Ferrari pair of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen stayed close to them for a large part of the race.

Vettel claimed victory in the previous race in Malaysia, but admitted that a repeat performance was impossible in Shanghai due to tyre degradation.

He told reporters: "We tried everything we could today. Obviously it's tricky here because you always try to look after the tyres but all in all I think it was a very good race for us.

"We were really able to put some pressure on them again, especially in the beginning of the race. Towards the end I think they were just too quick. They were pulling away. Nico had a sequence of really, really quick laptimes so we couldn't do that.

"But being closer here, and in front of the other teams, is great for us. If we keep doing that, and keep getting closer, obviously there's a point where we are some real challenge for these guys, which I'm looking forward to."

Vettel has finished on the podium in each of his three races for Ferrari so far.