Mansell: Hamilton close to perfection

Nigel Mansell has hailed the performance of Lewis Hamilton this season and believes the Englishman has been 'close to perfection'.

Hamilton heads into the Spanish Grand Prix this coming weekend at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya chasing his fourth win in succession and now sits just four points behind his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg in the battle for the lead in the 2014 F1 Drivers' Championship.

"No driver ever wins a world title in a bad team. But what you can do is demonstrate how brilliantly you can win, and Lewis has done that so far this season," Mansell told BBC Sport.

"He has been close to perfection, just brilliant. I think he has been given the freedom to express himself. When you get a few more wins under your belt, you get even more confidence and that gives you another half a second in your pocket," he added. "It doesn't get any better than knowing you have a good car - it's the most wonderful feeling."

Mansell also added that he can't see anyone catching Mercedes, although he doesn't think they will win every race.

"They are the class act of the field in 2014. I don't see them dropping the ball," Mansell continued.

"They're not going to be unbeatable during the year, but I think it will be very hard to close the gap because of their superior engine performance. Lewis and Nico are going to have a tremendous time in 2014," concluded the 1992 F1 World Champion.