Hamilton 'excited' for Mercedes battle with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton says he is excited about the battle for second in the Constructors' Championship between Mercedes and Ferrari.

The Silver Arrows managed to overtake their rivals following the race in Suzuka, after failing to mount a credible challenge to reigning World Champions Red Bull in 2023.

Both Hamilton and teammate George Russell came close to winning in Singapore, when a late pit stop handed them a tyre advantage over Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari driver held off the threat to seal the only non-Red Bull victory so far.

But after a strong finish in Suzuka for Mercedes, the team now sits 20 points ahead on 305 compared to 285 for Ferrari.

Hamilton: It's exciting that we have this battle

Hamilton is motivated to pull off a strong finish for Mercedes, when discussing the team battle with media, including RacingNews365: "It's exciting that we have this race, this battle at the moment.

"Just like them [Ferrari], we started off pretty poorly at the beginning of the season.

"Definitely didn't expect ourselves to be second in the constructors and to now be relatively close, particularly in the last couple of races and be fighting in the constructors.

"It's exciting for us as a team. And of course we want to beat them just as they want to beat us so it's going to take a full team effort, that's for sure."