Hamilton: Winning 'tough' F1 2018 title would mean even more 

Lewis Hamilton says winning the 2018 Formula 1 world championship would mean even more to him given the tough nature of the competition he is facing.

Hamilton is yet to win a race this season and trails current championship leader Sebastian Vettel by nine points following a difficult Chinese Grand Prix weekend, as rivals Red Bull scored its first win of 2018 with Daniel Ricciardo following an inspired strategy gamble. 

A timing error under a Virtual Safety Car period cost Hamilton what looked a certain victory in the season-opener in Australia, while the Briton recovered from ninth place on the grid - after a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox - to take third in Bahrain, before struggling to fourth in China. 

Hamilton, who is aiming to win a fifth world title this year, admitted Mercedes is no longer the team to beat in F1 after it failed to record a win in three races for the first time in the V6 hybrid era. 

“Who knows what the season holds. If we continue the way it is it’s going to be tough to win," Hamilton said. “If there is an opportunity and we were to finish on top it would mean even more because it’s an even tougher season than before.

“It hasn’t changed my thinking, my goals are still the same. It is clear from [China] that we are not the quickest. We’ve lost performance since Melbourne and maybe more so in China.  

“We are the second, or third fastest team at the moment so we have some improving to do but that’s not impossible. I think what this team has shown over the years that we are great at staying united and continuing to power on and keep working.” 

Hamilton said he plans to apply “constructive pressure” to the reigning world champions as Mercedes looks to hit back from its disappointing start to the new campaign, following the German manufacturer’s worst run of form in the current cycle of engine regulations. 

“Everyone here, back at the factory is just going to keep pushing as hard as possible. We’ve got a lot of information after the last couple of weeks. I certainly am pushing very hard.”

“I’m trying to encourage [the team] so they know which kind of areas to do with the car that they are struggling the most with so they can really apply pressure maybe in those departments or just make sure that we’ve got more development coming. 

“We’ve got to keep constructive pressure on the guys. They want to win just as much as all of us. It’s just a battle, working as a team.”