Lewis Hamilton back at F1 summit but fears an instant response from Ferrari

The lead in this year’s title race has switched six times in just 11 races, and Lewis Hamilton has warned it could flip again at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton enjoyed one of the best victories of his career at the German Grand Prix, scything through the field from 14th place as title rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out in his Ferrari.

The Briton is now 17 points clear with one race left before the summer break at Budapest, where he fears Ferrari will be the pacesetters.

Hamilton said: “It’s usually not our [Mercedes] strongest track but I’m hopeful it’s not a power circuit.

“Hopefully this extra chunk of power that Ferrari have doesn’t serve them as well there and we have a decent fight.”

During qualifying for the German Grand Prix, team boss Toto Wolff estimated Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas were losing about half a second a lap in terms of straight-line speed to the Ferrari power unit.

Meanwhile, former world champion Nico Rosberg claimed fellow German Vettel “threw victory away” by pushing too much, which led to him spinning off at a wet spot.

He said: “Conditions were difficult but he still had a gap to the guys behind, he could have just gone slower and instead he chucked it into the wall. It’s so bad.”