Hamilton advance but still focused on catching up

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Lewis Hamilton leads Formula 1 at the August break with a good margin but, despite his victory in pole position in Hungary on Sunday, the champion believes that Mercedes is still late to catch up.

Ferrari was favorite for the victory at Hungaroring Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas took advantage of a Saturday wet qualifying.

The circuit is known to be difficult to overtake and Bottas, although it hurt, turned out to be an excellent "wingman" to keep the Ferrari behind him while Hamilton built a buffer.

Hamilton, now 24 points ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel after 12 of the 21 races, will leave on vacation a happy man but also acknowledging that he's in a different kind of fight this year compared to 2017.

We all know that Ferrari really has the upper hand on the pace, "said the Briton after his fifth win of the season.

" But winning a championship is not just about speed, but about the way you handle things, the strategic calls, the mistakes, all those different things. "

Mercedes made blatant strategy mistakes.Vettel made more mistakes in the heat of the battle than his rival

WORK TO DO

The Briton has now won six times in Hungary, more than any other driver, but he has not yet done so and wins the title in the same season.

There is still a lot of work to be done if it is to break this sequence , although Hamilton is well ahead of where he was this year last year when he went into the August break at 14 Vettel points. .

"We have things to improve, we have performance to move forward, we have to try to catch them," Hamilton said of the pace advantage perceived by Ferrari.

"But we must continue to progress with all the other elements, which allows us to beat the Ferrari when they do not bring their game."

The second half of the season was good for Hamilton in the past, the Brit returning strong last year to clinch his fourth title.

He rejected a suggestion that he already had a few fingers on a fifth, though.

"Absolutely not, I think it's too early and you've seen the ups and downs we've had this year, you've been ahead on some points and behind some points", a- he said.

"A lot can happen, but what is really important is that we continue to maintain the pressure and continue to work as we have done so far. There's nothing we really need to change.

"It's important to capitalize on these tough weekends like this one, and I think that was really one of our main strengths this year "

Belgium is next, followed by Italy, and Hamilton won one and the other last year." But before that, he can enjoy a few weeks of time off.

"Now it's holidays, I'm going to meet my mother and my sister and niece and my nephew tonight and I'll spend the next four or five days with them, "he said Sunday.

" I do not often do family vacations, so it's something I'm waiting for with im patience. "