Hamilton insists there's 'no time for celebrations'

Lewis Hamilton vows to uphold in the final two rounds of the season the momentum that saw him win in Qatar his second race in succession and reduce the gap to Max Verstappen in the Drivers' championship to just 8 points.

The seven-time world champion is on a roll, as his comfortable 202nd career win in F1 on Sunday at the Losail International Circuit clearly proved.

On the track, Mercedes has regained the upper hand over Red Bull while off the track, the two teams continue to spar while their representatives take turns visiting the stewards' office.

After his triumph on Sunday, Hamilton said that he had enjoyed a "straightforward" and relatively "lonely" evening under the floodlights in Qatar, adding that he's never felt as good as he currently feels, both physically and onboard his car given Mercedes' strength of late.

However, despite his spell of success, the Briton is keeping his head down, knowing that the battle for the title with Verstappen will likely go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.

"The last two weeks have been fantastic, just amazing," said Hamilton. "But there’s no time for celebrations.

"I’ll be back in with the team already again next week and just back in training tomorrow. Just stay on it, head down."

Overall, Hamilton has outscored Verstappen by 11 points in the last two races, but with 52 points on offer – including fastest lap bonus points – there's still all to play for in the final 108 laps of the 2021 season.

• Read also - Hamilton: Straightforward win in Qatar was 'pretty lonely'

"I don’t really have too much emotion except for [being] driven right now," he added.

"But it’s amazing... To close that gap by so many points in these last few races has been important.

"They’re obviously still very fast as you could see today with their fastest lap and both their cars getting past pretty much everyone quite easily.

"So we’ve still got our work cut out and a big shame for Valtteri today.

"[But] I feel positive going into these next couple of races. I think they should be quite good for our car, so I'm looking forward to that battle."

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