Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull has become his team’s nearest rivals in recent races and he expects that trend to continue during the second-half of the season.

The Austrian outfit have improved consistently over the course of the campaign, culminating in a double podium finish for drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen at the German Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s recent resurgence has seen them overtake Ferrari in the Drivers’ Championship standings, although they are still a full 159 points behind leaders Mercedes, and Hamilton has been impressed by their improvement.

“They’ve got a very, very strong team,” he said. “I think Red Bull have definitely picked up with their engine performance but also they’ve got great downforce.

I don’t know why they closed up a little bit more than others [in recent races] but they’re definitely looking incredibly strong.”

The reigning world champion is convinced Red Bull are now his team’s nearest rivals, particularly as Ferrari have failed to achieve a podium finish in each of the last three races before the summer break.

He added: “Ferrari looked strong at one point during the [German GP] weekend and then they seemed to fade off more so in the race, so Red Bull is definitely our closest competitor.”

Hamilton is looking to win is third straight world title during 2016, and he is priced at 1.22 to achieve that feat, while team-mate Nico Rosberg is available at 4.20 to secure his maiden Championship crown.