Mercedes' Hamilton doesn't feel like he leads F1 championship yet

Lewis Hamilton says he will not feel like he leads the Formula 1 world championship until he has secured a 25-point advantage over Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

From a 43-point deficit after the first five grands prix, six wins in the following seven races have propelled Hamilton to a 19-point advantage over Rosberg going into the summer break.

How Hockenheim summed up Hamilton vs Rosberg

Hamilton, though, remains acutely aware he will have to take an engine penalty soon afterwards - with Spa and Monza considered the prime candidates - that will have a bearing on his campaign.

"I definitely feel different compared to being six points ahead," said Hamilton, referring to his gap to Rosberg following his win one week earlier in Hungary.

"I'm very, very happy with that, but I'm conscious there's going to be at least one more race where I'm further behind, and I don't know how much I'm going to be able to limit the damage.

"There are all these different things I could be faced with - Nico could enjoy a Sunday drive, and I'm going to be battling through a lot of different people.

"Now the Red Bulls have picked up their pace and it might be difficult to get past them, to even get into the top five. I'm conscious of that.

"So do I feel like I'm ahead? It's still not enough because I'm not a race win ahead yet.

"I hope I'll be able to get a race win ahead and then I'll feel like I am ahead."

German Grand Prix driver ratings

Hamilton's success at Hockenheim on Sunday, the 49th victory of his F1 career, was attained with relative ease after passing slow-away polesitter Rosberg - who eventually finished fourth - on the run to the first corner.

The three-time world champion was then able to maintain a gap over his pursuers, initially Red Bull's Max Verstappen and then team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, while preserving his power unit.

"I turned down my engine pretty much from the second or third lap," he said.

"When I was told 'Hammertime' [engineer Pete Bonnington's prompt for Hamilton to up his pace] I was able to switch it back on and increase the gap when needed.

"At the end, I was trying to make the engine go as far as possible. When you turn the engine down it's easier on it, rather than using all the horsepower.

"I was hoping to just prolong its life because you don't know when it's going to go.

"None of us do. I just wanted to treat it as well as possible."

Read the full story at Formula 1 news - Autosport