Portugal Colonial - Hamilton urges Ferrari to intensify their efforts in title bid at Spa

The 41-year-old seven-time world champion, who has had four podium finishes in five races, is 32 points behind Mercedes' 19-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' championship after nine of the expected 22 races.

"It's time to really crack the whip and do better," said Hamilton.

"I don't know what to expect this weekend, if I'm honest, with the longer straights here, but I love this track, the weather is great and I'm really so proud of the team and the incremental steps we're taking all the time."

He said his and Ferrari's revival -– team-mate Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix two weeks ago with Hamilton third -– had resulted from a combination of improvements.

"Better execution through the weekends, better understanding of the car, how hard the team has worked to develop the car and move it in the direction that both drivers are pushing it towards, it's all these things," he said.

He acknowledged that Mercedes remained the team to beat with the best car on the grid, but thanked Ferrari for building a fast and reliable car this year.

"It's no easy feat to build a fast and reliable car," he said. "So I am very grateful to them for that and then I can just try my best to extract everything, every single lap and every single point out of the car."

Team-mate Leclerc said he felt, as he had before Silverstone, that Mercedes would have a power advantage in Belgium.

"It was a surprise, honestly, for me, that we were strong in Britain, but we were lucky in the race because Kimi had a problem," he said. "So I think here in Spa it is Mercedes who are still the favourites."

M.A.Vaz--PC