Despite the lead of 24 points over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton believes the 2018 Formula 1 title is not in his hands just yet.
Hamilton was trailing Vettel due to the British driver’s retirement in Austria but the points lead for the German until the race in Germany was only eight points to Hamilton. With Vettel’s DNF in the German GP, it allowed Hamilton to have a 17 points lead.
He extended it with the win in Hungary to now have a 24 points advantage in the summer break. Last year with 11 races, it was 14 points lead for Vettel over Hamilton in the summer break with the latter eventually winning the title.
Even with the buffer and nine races remaining, Hamilton is not thinking of the title just yet with lots to play for still. “Absolutely not,” he said on having one hand on the title. “No, I think it’s far too early and you’ve seen the ups and downs we’ve had from this year.
“You’ve been ahead by some points and behind some points. But we have learned a lot. I don’t believe there’s ever a moment that you’ve got your hands on the title or the trophy. We’ve got a long long way still to go and there’s still nine races [to go].
“So, a lot can happen moving forwards but what’s really important is that we continue to keep up the pressure and keep working as we have done until now. There’s nothing we really need to alter.
“I think our work ethic has been very strong and the team morale is better than ever and the spirit is better than ever. We’ve just got to keep it up because as I said, we came to Hungary, we went to Germany, they [Ferrari] kind of blew us away a little bit in qualifying.
“They would have done [the same] in Hungary, had it been dry so we welcome the wet races, that’s for sure. But yeah, I’m not really certain what to expect. We’ve got Singapore coming up, Singapore’s another weak circuit for us.
“So, there are a few good ones and a few not so good ones ahead. It’s important to capitalise on those difficult weekends such as this and I think that’s really been a key strength of ours this year.
“We generally have come away with really good points at circuits which have generally been our weaker races but then we really need to capitalise on the races that we’re really strong at like Silverstone for example which we did.”
Hamilton admitted that the position he is in considering how the first half went, he could have only ‘dreamed’ to be there at the halfway mark. He still credits Ferrari’s gains, but hopes the second half plays to their advantage which usually is a strong period for them.
“I really could only have dreamed that we would be in the position that we are in right now, considering all factors and based on our pure performance, where we stand compared to the Ferraris,” he said.
“The back-to-back wins [in Germany and Hungary], I think that boost will last a long time for our team and it’s encouraging for everyone. The second half is always exciting, it’s always intense, particularly when we go to the long long hauls.
“It gets a bit better on our side, so we will go and prepare and make sure we come back even stronger.” The fight between Ferrari and Mercedes has been closer than last year, but once again the Italian manufacturer finds itself at the receiving end.
Even James Allison reckoned that Ferrari has been faster but the differences remain marginal between the two. The upcoming circuits could play a decisive role where five of the nine tracks suits Mercedes more than Ferrari.
However, the Italian manufacturer has gained on the power side in recent time which could make the fight tricky as Ferrari will be able to crawl into Mercedes’ advantage on the power hungry circuits too in the second half.
