Hamilton still centered on tyre usage at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton isn't being complacent when it comes to tyre usage, the main culprit of Mercedes inconsistent performance earlier in the year.

The German outfit struggled at the outset when the season kicked off in Melbourne back in March, its new-spec W08 generating a very narrow operating window in terms of tyre temperatures.

Mercedes made progress however as its understanding of its issues improved and remedies were implemented.

While happy with the W08's positive development in the last couple of months, Hamilton remains guarded and will keep his focus on Pirelli's tyres. 

"I think we’ve come a long way. I think we are definitely on top of it, but there are still traps we are aware of," Hamilton said.

"We have blistering, and the blistering is shown in the last few races that the cars go faster, pushing the tyres harder, that’s appearing.

"Understanding where that comes from, that shifts from track to track."

• Rosberg: 'Bottas is the perfect driver mentally'

The three-time world champion points to Ferrari's sudden tyre failures at Silverstone as a reason for keeping his rubber in check.

"We’ve seen the blowout that Ferraris had at Silverstone. It’s a constant study and something we are surveying all of the time.

"Same for me as a driver, I sit with my tyre engineers and I am constantly picking their brains just trying to make sure that I understand how to utilise them more, how far I can push them.

"That’s going to be an ongoing thing as we go through these next ten races as we continue to learn more about them.

"We are definitely in a good place, but there are still some surprises that could come up I guess."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter