Hamilton: Mercedes needs 'more magic' to beat Ferrari in F1 2017

Though Hamilton halved Vettel's championship lead to seven points with his Spa win, he felt the Ferrari was the quicker car in the race and is a more consistent and predictable machine than his Mercedes.

"People said 'you don't look happy' - I'm happy, but it's not over, and I know the difficulties that may be ahead," said Hamilton.

"Ferrari were quicker, so I'm a little bit cautious mentally, knowing that we might not be the quickest everywhere up ahead, and I'm trying to figure out how we apply positive energy to my guys to encourage them to bring some more magic in these next eight races so we can win.

"It's going to take everything from every single one of us to come out on top, which is how a championship should be.

"I'm actually really looking forward to that challenge, but I need to have strong weekends like this."

Hamilton pointed to the W08's inconsistency as the main challenge Mercedes must address.

"The car is not quite where we need it," he said. "It's obviously great in qualifying trim, but in the race generally struggles.

"But in the last race [in Hungary] qualifying trim was not good, and in the race I was very strong.

"It's strange, it varies from race to race, but this weekend we definitely didn't have the race pace.

"[Vettel] was able to follow way too close, and even on the 'push' in-laps he was able to stay within a tenth.

"So there was no room for error, that was the smallest bit of breathing space that I had, and I had to try and utilise it."

He insisted it was wrong to assume Mercedes is the class of the field.

"I've definitely read lots of stories or heard lots of comments about our car being the best, or we have the fastest car," said Hamilton.

"But I think it's very difficult for anyone to truly say that, because there are pros and cons between two cars, and there are definitely areas where we're faster and areas where they're faster, and it varies from race to race.

"However, they've have the most consistent season, hence why they have been in a clear lead in the championship.

"Whilst we've had a very, very solid well put together weekend, it was only just enough to stay ahead.

"The next race maybe it will be the same, or who knows, maybe our gap will be bigger, or they'll be ahead again. I can't predict it.

"But the following races, where we have to apply downforce, it's going to be tough.

"When we go to Singapore, their car is very good in those conditions."