Mercedes chief makes Hamilton admission amid championship battle with Antonelli

Hamilton, who won six of his seven championships with Mercedes, appears to be the Brackley outfit's biggest threat for the drivers' championship this season. The Ferrari driver is 45 points behind championship leader Antonelli, and his FP2 pace suggested that he could close the gap going into the summer break.

Asked about how he feels for Mercedes to be fighting against Hamilton for the championship, Resta said during Friday's press conference: "First of all, it’s great to see both drivers performing at a very good level. There have been some ups and downs in the various races, but fundamentally both of them have been very strong so far, with good performances.

Also on Friday, Resta said he was grateful to George Russell for pushing the team to investigate the straight-line speed issue that has affected his recent results and the team's performances.

"As a team, we're really thankful to George for having really challenged ourselves and really highlighted some area of opportunity where we're really focused and he has been really good in understanding and highlighting things to us."

Resta added that the team has identified the issue and put a fix in place for this weekend, thanking Russell for his contribution in helping achieve this. He also said Russell was pleased that Mercedes managed to get to the bottom of the problem and resolve it, describing the outcome as the result of strong teamwork despite the challenges posed by the new regulations.