Lewis-Nico battle will go to last lap

LEWIS HAMILTON’S championship battle with Nico Rosberg will go to the wire, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has predicted.

That is despite the British driver taking charge of the title race for the first time this season following his win in Hungary.

Defending champion Hamilton is now six points clear of his Mercedes team-mate Rosberg after winning five of the last six grands prix.

It is a remarkable turnaround for the Briton who feared his chances of winning a third successive title were all but over after slipping 43 points behind Rosberg as bad luck and car trouble plagued the early part of his season.

Since Hamilton and Rosberg crashed out of the Spanish Grand Prix in May, however, the former has scored 49 more points than his team-mate.

After their collision at Spa in 2014, Hamilton went on a similar hot streak, winning six of the next seven races, to win the championship.

“I don’t think that one can see a pattern in there,” Wolff said.

“It’s important that they concentrate on their strengths, and you will see a couple of races go towards one, and then towards the other.

“Nico was outdriving Lewis a lot at the start, and everyone was saying is this the new Nico? But then it turned around again.”

Asked if it will now be difficult for Rosberg to reclaim the momentum, Wolff added: “No, because at the beginning of the season he won so many points against Lewis you can see it swings both directions.

“We’ll see that swing through the season, and my feeling is that the championship will go to the end.”