Lewis Hamilton is ‘excited’ by the prospect of a five-way battle for the championship.

Mark Webber currently tops the standings after his triumph at the Hungarian Grand Prix – the last race before the summer break.

But the McLaren driver is just four points adrift of his Red Bull rival, with Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull, his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso all close behind.

“In effect, we'll resume the season as if it's the start of the year again: with everything to play for, and none of the top three teams lagging behind on points,” Hamilton told his official website. “That's really exciting!"

And Hamilton is confident his McLaren can continue to compete at the top when the championship begins again in Belgium at the end of the month.

"I know we can come back even stronger in the final seven races," he added.

"We have some very promising developments in the pipeline, and we're making progress in lots of other areas, too.

"We have dug deep before, and I know absolutely that we will dig deep once more."