Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has played down his and his side's chances of success in the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Silver Arrows dominated the race in 2012, with Nico Rosberg going on to record a comfortable victory after he and his then teammate Michael Schumacher started on the front row of the grid.

However, Hamilton, who has replaced Schumacher at Mercedes, believes that it will be hard for his team to repeat their triumph of last year.

"Mercedes were in a unique situation at the track last year and got everything right," said Hamilton.

"The tyres are different this year so you have to anticipate that it's going to be a little bit different there for us.

"Walking off into the distance is probably not going to be the case. If the car works well there and we get a similar result it'll be amazing."

Hamilton finished fifth in the season opener at Melbourne before racing to a third-placed conclusion in Malaysia.