Lewis Hamilton perceives Mercedes has performed to its potential on a more consistent basis than Ferrari this season, despite the latter bearing the “better package”.

Although the Silver Arrows relinquished the title of the current fastest car in Formula 1 to its nearest rivals, the team has claimed sole possession of the lead in both world championships at the mid-season break.

Back-to-back victories has seen Hamilton open up a 24-point lead over Sebastian Vettel with nine rounds remaining, but the reigning world champion has urged Mercedes to bring its “A game” for the second half of the year in response to the Italian outfit’s recent surge in performance.

“As I said before, I think Ferrari has had a slightly better package but we’ve delivered ours better and hopefully that will make the difference,” Hamilton said.

“Hopefully, in this second part of the season, we will be able to upgrade our package so it’s a little bit stronger than theirs. If we keep bringing that ‘A game’ then hopefully they’ll have no return to our ace serve.”

In the midst of an intense championship battle, Hamilton accepts, on his part, that he hasn’t been error-free in 2018 but plans to work on specific areas to boost his chances of clinching this year’s drivers’ title.

“Each year you do something different in your break,” the Briton said. “You use and conserve your energy in a different way. I think I’ve got a good setup generally though this break. The race physically I am good but there’s always areas you can improve, there’s always things you can improve on.

“I am not going to say what they are but I am going to be working on some of those things through this break. There’s still going to be some studying. I just got to keep working hard. We’ve got to keep improving.”