'Time to really crack the whip' – Hamilton calls for more from Ferrari ahead of Belgian GP

Lewis Hamilton believes "it's time to really crack the whip", as the Ferrari driver looks to further close the gap to Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The seven-time World Champion enters this weekend just 32 points behind Antonelli in the Drivers' standings, and seven adrift of George Russell in P2, while Mercedes only lead Ferrari by 78 points in the Teams' Championship.

Hamilton and Ferrari have been able to close the gap over the last few weekends, which have yielded four podiums from the last five races, including Hamilton's first Grand Prix victory for the Scuderia in Barcelona.

"It's time to really crack the whip and do better," said Hamilton on Thursday's media day when asked how he felt going into the weekend.

"Don't know what to expect this weekend if I'm honest with longer straights. But I love this track, the weather is great and I'm really proud of the team and incremental steps that we're taking."

When asked about the recent upturn in performance, Hamilton added: "It's a combination of a lot of things.

"Better execution through the weekends, better understanding of the car, how hard the team has worked to develop the car and move it in the direction that both drivers are pushing it towards."

As well as an increase in performance, Hamilton and Ferrari have been aided by reliability problems for Mercedes, with Antonelli failing to score in both Barcelona and Silverstone due to car troubles.

Hamilton added that despite Mercedes still being the strongest package on the grid, consistency and reliability would be crucial in the title battle.

"Often in championships that is the case, and that's really down to the amazing work that the team has done in building us a reliable car," he said.

"That's no easy feat to build a fast and reliable car. Very grateful to them for that, and then just try my best to extract everything, every single lap and every single point out of the car."