Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton has praised the level of driving in Formula 1 this year, believing it has been among the best since he joined the sport.
Hamilton claimed his ninth victory of the season at last weekend’s Russian Grand Prix, ending a run of wins for Ferrari, and in the process strengthening his own title prospects.
Hamilton now leads the championship by 73 points with just five races remaining.
When asked whether it was now on his mind, Hamilton said: “I just don’t try to think about it.
“It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s pretty easy just to focus on the task in hand and it’s not easy at the moment so honestly just focusing on trying to be the best I can be each weekend, one race at a time and making sure I’m just delivering at a high rate.
“What’s really impressive is just to see how naturally we’re fighting against the Ferraris who have got great pace but Charles [Leclerc], Valtteri [Bottas], Seb [Vettel], Max [Verstappen], Carlos [Sainz Jr.], some of the other drivers are really performing so well.
“I think it’s one of the best years I’ve seen the drivers perform in terms of just class performances, so it’s meaning that everyone is having to raise their bar including myself.
“I’m enjoying that challenge and as I said, just one race at a time. The next one is going to be super hard to keep… to trying to beat these guys [Ferrari] again but not impossible as we’ve shown.”
Mercedes has not been beaten at Suzuka, venue for next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, since 2014, with Hamilton victorious in four out of the last five years.
But he is anticipating a fierce fight with Ferrari and the Honda-powered Red Bull outfit this time around.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “Suzuka is incredible, it’s one of the most exciting parts of the year and now so more than ever before because you’ve got three solid, incredibly fast teams, particularly pushing each other and having the ability, the potential to win a race.
“I have no idea who is going to be quickest there.
“Obviously, at the moment, Ferraris are quite dominant but maybe it will suit our car a little bit more, who knows? Or the Red Bull, maybe. So it’s exciting to go there because that’s a serious driver’s track, one of the best ones of the whole year.
“It’s proper grass and gravel and walls so it’s the ultimate test, I would say, that track, for the car and also for the driver. I just hope that we get to have a good race there.”
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