Mercedes believes title battle wide open after Hamilton victory

Hamilton's dominance at the hot Hungaroring pointed to Mercedes having made a big breakthrough in its understanding of the tyres, which might have also been helped by the new Pirelli construction suiting its car better.

Although team principal Ross Brawn would not go as far as declaring that the outfit's tyre woes were now a thing of the past, he does think that the potential was there for it to pull off similar performances in the races to come.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about his feelings on the title fight with Hamilton 48 points behind Sebastian Vettel, Brawn said: "It is so fragile.

"I think it is still open and we certainly won't be giving up.

"This was a very good weekend for the team - from beginning to end.

"We had a very good programme on Friday. The balance wasn't great but we we did things on Friday and Saturday that helped.

"If we can replicate that there is no reason why we cannot win more races. If we don't replicate it then we won't.

"But we have to get both cars to the finish. We didn't do that here and you have to have both cars right up there."

Brawn also believes that the victory was vital for Hamilton's mindset and thinks there is no reason why repeat performances cannot now come.

"I hope it is another step," said Brawn. "It is an important step to get that race win, and there is absolutely no reason why more should not follow.

"Lewis showed faith in us at the end of last year, and people were speculating about whether it was a bad move or not.

"I hope we have now started to demonstrate that his faith was justified. It is very early days but it is encouraging."