Lewis Hamilton believes his chances of a fifth Formula 1 title remain very much on course despite a rare difficult weekend at the Canadian GP.

The Mercedes driver was won six times in Montreal including each of the last three races before last Sunday but was comprehensively beaten by teammate Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn finishing second behind Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton would start fourth but dropped behind Daniel Ricciardo to fifth in the pit-stop phase as concerns over his engine, which was completing its seventh straight race, meant he was pleased just to reach the finish.

“I’m just so happy because all of a sudden at the start I was down on power. My engine was over temperature and I couldn’t get them down," he explained.

“I just thought it was going to fail and every single lap I was on the edge just waiting for that power to drop away. It kept dropping and coming back and was like ‘jeez’.

“I could have lost a lot more points today.”

Having to push engines so close to their limit is not something Mercedes has experienced too often in the hybrid era with Hamilton striking a tone that has been more commonly heard from Red Bull since 2014.

“It is definitely more fun when you have more engines. The fact that the World Championship could be swayed by reliability, I don’t think anyone wants to see that," he said to Sky Sports.

“You want actual true performance, so the sport is going in the wrong direction, in my opinion.”

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The updated engine which was meant to be used in Canada is expected to be ready for the next Grand Prix in France and looking long-term, the 33-year-old does think he has the upper-hand over Vettel and Ferrari.

“We just keep doing what we’re doing, keep our heads down, keep motivated and keep pushing because they will falter," he claimed.

“We have to keep applying the pressure. We didn’t this weekend, but I’m really going to make sure I come back stronger in the next race.

“Ferrari ultimately have had a slightly better package. All round they’ve been doing a slightly better job so we’ve got to do more.”