Hamilton says it's "far too early" to think about title

Lewis Hamilton believes that it is far too early to think about the world title, believing there are more twists coming in the eventful 2018 season. The Briton currently holds a 24 point advantage in the lead of the standings, heading rival Sebastian Vettel.

The pair are going head-to-head for the second year in a row for the world championship. Despite having a comfortable lead at the top, Hamilton has played down the gap to Vettel and also says Mercedes shouldn't change its approach when F1 returns from the summer break.

“I think it’s far too early [to think about the title] and you’ve seen the ups and downs we’ve had from this year,” he said “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 or 10 races.

“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."

Hamilton pointed out how the momentum shifting weekend to weekend is making races very hard to predict: “We’ve just got to keep it up because we came to Hockenheim, they [Ferrari] kind of blew us away a little bit in qualifying, they would have done in Hungary had it been dry so we welcome the wet races, that’s for sure! 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 and Vettel are both battling for a fifth world championship, something that no two drivers have battled for before in F1. The fight between the two will resume in just over a week, when the F1 circus travels to Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix. 

Fergal Walsh