Lewis Hamilton says it is "far too early" for him to consider his 2018 Formula 1 title advantage as comfortable, amid the threat posed by Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton turned an eight-point disadvantage after his home event into a 24-point lead courtesy of back-to-back wins in Germany and Hungary, his prospects aided by Vettel’s crash at Hockenheim.
Not once in the hybrid era has Hamilton held such an advantage in the summer break, having trailed Vettel 12 months ago to the tune of 14 points, before overhauling his opponent.
Hamilton, though, was quick to play down his near-win buffer over Vettel, and also stressed that Mercedes should not alter its approach when the sport returns after the 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.
“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.”
