Hamilton no "more wary" of Red Bull despite title challenge

Lewis Hamilton is not "more wary" of Red Bull than he was before the season despite the tight nature of his championship battle with Max Verstappen.

Verstappen closed the gap between the two to just three points with his win at the Belgian Grand Prix, with Hamilton ahead by virtue of two nightmarish races for the Dutchman ahead of the summer break.

The challenge Red Bull has provided Mercedes is the closest the Silver Arrows has had to deal with in the turbo-hybrid era, yet Hamilton said: "I don't feel like I am more wary than I was at the beginning of the year.

"We knew how quick they were at the beginning, we have obviously seen the speed and the competitiveness of them in the past.

"As we have gone through the season they have gotten stronger and stronger and it has been harder for us as we have gone on.

"We had a bit of a difficult patch but we have got back to where we... in terms of operating, where we were in the past, to a good place.

"It is going to be close in the second half of the season. The first half was definitely one of the toughest and I expect this is going to be pretty much the same in the second half, if not more difficult."

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