Lewis Hamilton's title bid resumes at Belgian GP

Paris: Lewis Hamilton must keep the pressure on Sebastian Vettel at the Belgian Grand Prix to maintain his slim title chances when the Formula One season resumes following its midseason break.

While Ferrari have slipped behind the pace in recent races, Mercedes are finally adding consistency to their undoubted speed to give Hamilton an outside shot at closing the gap on championship leader Vettel.

Hamilton, the 2008 champion, has nine races left and 48 points to make up on the three-time defending champion.

But Mercedes have won three of the past five races and Hamilton has clinched three consecutive pole positions - the last three weeks ago when he drove superbly from the front to win the Hungarian GP in Budapest.