Hamilton: Cost cuts make title repeat hard

The FIA last week rubber stamped a wide-ranging number of measures aimed at reducing budgets against the backdrop of the worldwide financial crisis.

And it is those new regulations, including an in-season ban on testing, that Hamilton believes will make it a bigger challenge for him to triumph.

"I don't think it will make it easier," Hamilton was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. "With the new regulations it's going to make it very tough to win the championship again.

"We have less testing obviously, but I think we as a team are in a position to pull together and make a difference in some other way. But everyone's in the same boat."

Hamilton made it clear, however, that the team were not worrying about the changes - and were simply focused on how best to exploit new opportunities.

"It's amazing how many different things happen in a year but all we're thinking about is how we can continue in the sport and continue to put on a good show," he claimed. "How we can move forward and continue to win as a team."

And he also did not rule out there more teams challenging at the front as a result of the changes.

"We don't know who's going to be quick, surely we're going to be at the front, with Ferrari maybe, BMW, but you never know," he said. "Maybe there's going to be a fourth team up there with us."