Lewis Hamilton wary of narrowing points gap, believes Mercedes can do better

Post the one-month break following the Hungarian GP, Mercedes have failed to win any of the three races held since then. That Ferrari, their arch-rivals on the grid, have won all three contests at Spa, Monza, and last week at Singapore's Marina Bay has left Toto Wolff's side with a lot to think about.

This has lent a twist to the rather one-dimensional 2019 narrative that no one saw coming, given the fact that Ferrari's form in the first half of the season left a lot to be desired.

In fact, it may not be entirely incorrect to suggest that it's not every day that one sees Lewis Hamilton failing to make it to the top step of the podium, given the dominant form that he's been in.

Of his 81 career wins, 8 alone have come in this season and from just 16 rounds. This basically means that Hamilton has been delivering an exceptional average of winning every second race that he stars in.

When compared to Hamilton's incredible tally of 8 wins this year, Charles Leclerc has managed 2 while Sebastian Vettel has won just 1 race.

But in the aftermath of the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix, where much of the attention rested with Vettel – who sort of delivered a career-saving win having last won in Belgium in 2018 – Hamilton has suggested the need for Mercedes to up their game. He knows that the points gap, despite being a large one, could become narrower every week with Ferrari showing a late surge in the season.

Post the Singapore race, Hamilton shared his impressions on what lies ahead: “It’s got tighter and tighter as the season has gone on, we’ve learnt from that, but at the same time we’ve just got to be doing a better job.”

He would add further, “We did such a great job in the beginning of the year that we’ve got this gap, but that gap could easily go. I’m under no illusions about that, about my gap in the championship. It’s not won yet."

“We’ve got to pull our socks up basically. We can squeeze more out of this car and this team, individually, together we can do better."

That said, with the Russian Grand Prix taking place this weekend the racing action is all set to resume with the main race taking place on Sunday. It remains to be seen whether Ferrari can upset Hamilton's rhythm on a track where he has won on three occasions; in 2014, 2015, and 2018.