Hamilton rues points lost to Ferrari by Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton says that Mercedes has given up too many championship points to its rivals in the first half of 2017.

Mercedes has a 39 point lead over Ferrari in the constructors championship heading into the summer break. However, Hamilton feels that they should be much further ahead than that.

"We've given up a lot of points to this point," Hamilton said. "Ferrari have given up a lot less as a team.

"We just hope that we don't give up any more points," he told Autosport magazine.

Mercedes had a strong British Grand Prix, outscoring Ferrari by 22 points in a single race. But it gave back all but six points of that haul in the next round in Hungary when Ferrari took a 1-2 victory.

Hamilton surrendered third place in that race to honour a commitment to team mate Valtteri Bottas. While that didn't change Mercedes' total for the weekend, he admits it's a six-point turnaround he doubts he will "ever get back".

The sudden lack lack of competitiveness in Hungary compared to Ferrari certainly concerned Hamilton going forward.

'Heart over mind' decision leaves Hamilton in conflict

"I don't know why we were off the pace compared to the Ferraris," he said. "Whether or not that will continue in the next race, I've got no idea.

"Hopefully we'll go to circuits like Spa and it will be a bit more like Silverstone.

"I truly believe that we have the capability of winning this championship," he added. "But it's going to take absolutely 100 per cent of everyone's effort to pull it off.

Hamilton said that the first 11 races of 2017 had been "very tough, physically, mentally and emotionally" and that it was good to have the summer break.

"It's definitely been a difficult season up to now," he said. "The break will be very good for everyone to spend some time with family and whatever they do, and recharge and come back fresh.

"I can just encourage my team to come back strong. And I'll try to come back even stronger!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.