Hamilton expects tight battles until final race

Lewis Hamilton doesn't expect to have a race where Mercedes is the clear favorite between now and the end of the season.

Mercedes went into the Singapore Grand Prix on the back foot having qualified fifth and sixth with Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, respectively, while Ferrari and Red Bull had looked quicker all weekend. The first-lap retirements of Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen opened the door for Hamilton to take an unexpected victory, and while boosted by that result the championship leader sees many of the upcoming venues as not favoring any team too much.

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"We have Malaysia, I think we should be OK," Hamilton said. "Then we have Japan, high-downforce circuit; could be close, Red Bull is very very strong at that circuit but I think we might be... it won't definitely be our strongest circuit.

"Austin, I think we'll be fine. I think Brazil would be a place where [Red Bull] will be particularly strong. Ferrari will be particularly strong. Honestly, I think it's going to be very close in the next races.

"It's hard to predict, as I said, but I think that one [Brazil] particularly... and maybe when you go to Mexico, for example, you've put your maximum downforce on but because it's so high there's little drag and maybe the cars that have a little bit more downforce might just have the edge on us. We'll find out when we get there."

However, Daniel Ricciardo – who finished second in Singapore – believes Hamilton is unlikely to get a challenge from Red Bull without an unusual race.

"Malaysia, obviously there were a few incidents last year but I think our general pace wasn't too bad so we might be stronger than we think there," Ricciardo said. "Malaysia, Japan and then we'll see.

"I think we can be podium cars in probably Malaysia, Japan and Austin. But yeah, we might need some alternate conditions to really give us raw pace to fight for a win. Yeah, I'm not going to sit here and say we're not going to win one. I believe we'll get at least one chance somewhere."

Hamilton's victory in Singapore saw him open up a 28-point lead over nearest rival Vettel with six rounds remaining this season.