Lewis Hamilton says the current year’s Formula 1 title battle pressure with Sebastian Vettel is more prominent than he has ever experienced previously.
The Mercedes driver is 17 focuses clear of Vettel after Sunday’s win in Germany yet anticipates that Ferrari will have the high ground at this present end of the week’s race in Hungary.
“You don’t see us away from the track and that is the most demanding thing,” he said. “Keeping your mind in the game from March to November, arriving every weekend 100%.
“I can honestly say not every single weekend I have hit the nail on the head and been able to do that.
“There are parts of my performance this year that are not perfect. Last year I was great in qualifying, this year it has been an area I am constantly trying to work on – starts were more consistent last year, there are always areas, there is always something.”
Hamilton said: “The pressures are huge. The demands and the desires of myself and Sebastian are higher than ever.
“The pressure is higher than ever. I am not fazed by it. I am excited by it.”
He added: “Last year, I’m sure we reached just as high heights in terms of pressure at some point. It is just that this year it is even closer than last year so the smallest mistakes are even more costly. So there is more pressure on that.
“We are racing a team that are faster than us this year. Last year, we were quite balanced. There were some weekends, they were faster than us, some weekends we were faster than them.
Vettel did not converse with the media on Thursday following the demise of Sergio Marchionne on Wednesday, four days after he was supplanted as president and CEO of Ferrari subsequent to ending up sick from difficulties following shoulder medical procedure.
Hamilton said he expected Ferrari and conceivably Red Bull to be more grounded than Mercedes this end of the week.
“This year it is swinging more in their direction, so we are having to over-deliver on weekends and try to pull out more on weekends when we are not quick enough so the pressure to extract every last millimetre is greater than ever if I want to be number one at the end.”
