Lewis Hamilton thinks the recent turnaround in the title fight has been "crazy", but he is still refusing to dwell on his lead with engine penalties imminent after the summer break.
Hamilton has won six of the last seven races, a streak which has seen him overturn a 43-point deficit to Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg to lead by 19. That stretches back to his collision with Rosberg at the Spanish Grand Prix, which took both men out of the race when Hamilton attempted to re-take the lead on the first lap.
Reflecting on the turnaround, Hamilton said: "It's kind of crazy, it's gone by so quickly. It's almost like a couple of weeks ago we were in Barcelona and I was 43 points behind thinking 'Geez I might come away 50 points behind' and finding it hard to find a way through the woods, you know?
"Through the trees and having to navigate through that and never giving up and just keep going and keep believing that the light is beyond those bushes kind of thing. My engineers, my mechanics have all stayed super-focused which has enabled me to also do the same and they've shown no sign of giving up, which has inspired me to do the same."
Unlike Rosberg, Hamilton suffered a spate of engine problems early in the season which has left him on his fifth power unit -- the last allowed before incurring a grid penalty. Mercedes is expected to give Hamilton a new engine at Spa or Monza and Hamilton admits the lingering threat of penalties means he is refusing to get carried away with that buffer to Rosberg.
"I definitely feel different to being six points ahead. I didn't know until I got into the pen afterwards that I was 19 points ahead, I hadn't really figured it out, but that's just crazy. I was 43 points behind and now it's swung the other way. I'm very, very happy with that but I'm conscious that there will be one race that I'm further behind that I don't know how much I'm going to be able to regain.
"I don't know the damage limitation will be, I don't know how far I'm going to be able to get up. There's all these different things I could be faced with. Nico most likely will be out enjoying a Sunday drive and I'm going to be battling through a lot of different people.
"Now the Red Bulls have picked their pace up it might be hard to get past them, so it might be hard even to get into the top five. So I'm conscious of that. So do I feel like I'm properly ahead? Still not enough because I'm not a race win ahead yet and so I hope I might be able to have the chance to get a race win ahead and I think then I would feel like I was ahead."