Lewis Hamilton is not ready to accept that Mercedes will be second best to Red Bull Racing at any of the remaining six races of the 2021 season. The Silver Arrows are expected to struggle at high altitude tracks like Mexico and Brazil, but the seven-time world champion is ready to try and win every race until the end of the campaign.

Max Verstappen and Hamilton are locked in a tight title battle that has swung between the Red Bull driver and the Mercedes driver as the season progressed. The Dutch racer currently leads the championship albeit by just six points with six races still to go.

Mercedes have won the last two races with Hamilton taking the win at the Russian Grand Prix and Valtteri Bottas triumphing in Turkey. The reigning eight-time constructors' champions have the momentum on their side, with many saying that Mercedes' new power unit is giving them an edge in terms of overall pace.

Red Bull are expected to fight back in the upcoming races, with Mexico and Brazil known to be the Austrian team's traditional strongholds in recent campaigns. Hamilton, however, is not willing to accept it and made it clear that Mercedes will give everything they have to minimise their disadvantage and "somehow" win all the races.

"It's important to win every race somehow, you know, maximising our points – that's our goal over these next six races – it's going to be incredibly difficult and there will be moments where we can perhaps edge them [Red Bull] out," Hamilton said during his press conference Thursday, as quoted on F1.com.

"I don't like to assume that Mexico is not going to be strong but they are usually very strong in Mexico. But yes, I think it's going to be... a lot can happen in these six races, so I think we just take it one race at a time, give it everything we've got," he added.

The first practice session of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas gets underway on Friday, Oct. 22. The last race held in COTA was in 2019, which was won by Valtteri Bottas, while the 2020 edition was cancelled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lewis Hamilton
Home comfort: Lewis Hamilton celebrates after finishing first in Friday qualifying at Silverstone LARS BARON/POOL