Lewis Hamilton has revealed he is pushing his Mercedes team to consider developing parts for 2019 that he could test before the end of this season.

With wins at four of the last five races, the championship pendulum has swung firmly in the Briton's favour as he now holds a 40-point lead over Sebastian Vettel with six races to go.

Though insisting after Singapore he was not ready to take anything for granted, Hamilton has admitted he and his team have begun looking at areas of focus for the W10.

"I pushed them a lot about next year’s car. I know what I need improving," he said. “I am pushing the guys because they have to sign off things now for next year’s tests already.

“I’m saying, ‘Can you bring things forward? Please make this component which takes a lot of work but I might get it to the race because I want to feel it on a race weekend, rather than next year in February or March.’

“When we start testing it is too late, so I am keeping the pressure on these guys.”

One reason why Hamilton and Mercedes are confident enough to do so, is the strides they have made with the current car in recent races, ironing out some key weaknesses.

“We started off the year, I felt great and then we tailed off and we had some struggles with the understanding of the car, how to utilise the equipment that we had tyre-wise and balance-wise, we had a couple of so-so races, and then luckily we found our footing," he explained.

“We’re going from strength to strength as a team in our understanding of the car, how to utilise the tools that we have.

“We are far more comfortable at our job right now – six races ago we were definitely questioning, but I think we’ve now figured the car out, we know where we are and we know what we have got to do.”

Williams deputy team boss Claire Williams has claimed the ongoing situation regarding Lance Stroll and his move to Force India is "distracting" their 2019 driver line-up decision.

Following the purchase of the Silverstone-based squad by his father Lawrence during the summer, the Canadian is expected to leave his current seat and replace Esteban Ocon, however, it is unknown if that will happen before the end of the season or will wait until next year.

“It is a bit of a moving target at the moment (around Lance),” Williams told Sky Sports. “We’re going through those conversations and waiting to see where and when he’ll end up.

“It’s more about what happens at Force India than it is about us. We’re going race by race.

“Lance and Sergey [Sirotkin] are here for us and I’m sure they will be for the next race too.”

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Faced with the potential for needing a third driver this season, it means Williams are having to put back their plans for 2019, where it is thought Sirotkin will stay alongside a new teammate.

“Everything that’s recently happened with Force India and the Stroll scenario has distracted us from our focus on driver evaluations," Claire continued. “We are now halfway through that progress.

“We won’t be making a decision anytime soon, you know what we’re like at Williams we tend to leave this right until the end of the season.”

Given the drop in sponsorship revenue as Martini and Stroll leave, it is thought finances could be a factor in who Williams choose, though the team has shrugged off any claims of budget shortfalls for next season.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting has admitted he would not be against the idea of allowing three-car teams in Formula 1 but doubts it could ever get the go ahead.

The concept has been a hot topic in recent weeks after Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff suggested it could be used to help young drivers find a place on the grid, as he desperately seeks to keep Esteban Ocon in F1 while promoting George Russell from F2.

Red Bull among others have shot down the possibility on feasibility grounds and Whiting believes smaller outfits would have another obvious reason for dismissing it.

“It’s fairly simple. The argument against it is if you’ve got a dominant team with three cars, then everyone’s fighting over fourth and not a podium place," he told Motorsport.com

“If you’ve got three dominant teams with three cars, then you’re fighting over 10th. I can understand why everyone would baulk at that."

Should the competitive order close up between all the competing teams, however, the Briton does actually think it would make sense.

"If you have a more evenly competitive field, [three cars] is a good economic model as far as one can see," he continued.

“This is why GP3 teams have always had three cars. For next year’s [FIA International] F3 the plan is 10 teams with three cars each. It’s a good business model because it enables the third car price to be lower.

“I would think that would work in F1 as well.”

The regulations would need to be overhauled too though, with considerations such as the limit of personnel per team and the amount of garage space a three-car squad would require and that's why Whiting ultimately thinks more teams is the answer.

“Getting new teams, as we know, is tantamount to impossible at the moment,” he admitted initially. “But that’s something that we’re hoping will improve, of course, if everything works out as planned, with the revenue distribution and the cost cap.

“The car will hopefully be regulated where the non-performance parts are standard or prescribed, and the performance differentiating parts are team only, where you can’t get them from everybody else.

“A lot of the stuff that Haas currently buys from Ferrari will be prescribed or standard. However the suspension, brake ducts, air ducts, all of those are currently non-listed, so they are allowed to buy those, and there is huge performance in them.”

A Honda engine upgrade likely for the Russian Grand Prix could put them ahead of Renault in the power stakes, according to Auto Motor und Sport.

GPS data seen by the German publication estimates that the Japanese manufacturer current sits 15 horsepower behind their French counterparts with 715hp compared to Renault's 730hp.

That puts both some way off the 780hp and 790hp figures suggested for Mercedes and Ferrari respectively, with the additional 160hp from the ERS taking the Scuderia to 950hp in total.

Though another upgrade by Honda wasn't expected until Austin, Dutch outlet Ziggo Sport claims it will now be used in Sochi with AMuS suggesting a 35hp gain is likely and would, therefore, move them ahead of Renault by 20hp.

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If true, all this will be music to the ears of Red Bull who take on the Japanese units in 2019 in place of Renault and could be reportedly set to introduce a new Spec-B engine for Max Verstappen in Russia following his issues with the Spec-C in Singapore.

The Dutchman was suffering from false neutrals and variable power and torque delivery throughout the weekend, leading to him almost retiring, he claimed, behind the Safety Car.

“We accepted the risks when we took this engine. It has delivered a bit more power and it has been a bit rough around the edges,” team boss Christian Horner said after the race.

“But with the increase in power from it that helped get on to the front row yesterday and helped to achieve a second position today.”

Max Verstappen has backed Red Bull's claim that Fernando Alonso was never considered to replace Daniel Ricciardo for 2019.

At the Belgian Grand Prix, the Spaniard, who had announced his departure from F1 the week prior, caused a stir by suggesting he had been approached by the Milton Keynes outfit on multiple occasions during his career, including twice this year alone.

Team boss Christian Horner denied that and the Dutchman reaffirmed that by saying he was kept in the loop.

“Alonso was not an option for 2019. It’s something I know,” he said at an event back in Holland.

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Instead, it will be Pierre Gasly that has what some might call the dubious honour of partnering the 20-year-old at Red Bull next season.

“I think I can get along very well with Pierre (Gasly) and I think they have also evaluated that, so I am satisfied knowing that they have chosen him,” Max commented.

The Frenchman got the seat over Carlos Sainz, who many believed was first in line for a promotion, with the Spaniard instead going to McLaren taking Alonso's seat.

“I am convinced that in 2016 and 2017 that if there was a gap at Red Bull then I would have got it but Ricciardo and Verstappen were fixed,” he told Sky Sports.

“Then I left for Renault and had a very good year, but inevitably I lost a bit of touch and Red Bull didn’t have as much information, so they went for the safe option with Gasly, which I fully back because he is a great driver and deserves the Red Bull chance.”

Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey believes Sebastian Vettel is struggling under the pressure of challenging Lewis Hamilton for the Formula 1 title.

The German fell 40 points behind the Mercedes driver with just six races to go after a difficult Singapore Grand Prix saw him finish third, behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

Having been the man behind the four championship-winning cars that Vettel drove between 2010-2013, Newey knows the 31-year-old better than most and believes the signs are not good.

“Sebastian works incredibly hard and hardly anyone is more self-critical than he is,” he told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

“If he has a weakness, it’s that he can make stupid mistakes in the heat of the moment. If he leads he is almost unbeatable.

“But people deal with pressure differently. In the car, he is responsible not only for himself but for the entire team. Some drivers are not bothered, like the Finns.

“But there are others who really feel the pressure weigh on them at the end of a world championship.

“The harder a driver works, the more he feels the pressure. That’s particularly true of Seb.”

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Red Bull team boss Christian Horner disagrees, however, pointing to when he overturned a similar deficit six years ago.

“Usually he’s very good under pressure,” he said “He certainly won’t give up, he was 40-odd points before down I think in 2012 but obviously it will be disappointing for him to have lost out to Lewis at this race [Singapore].

"The Ferrari’s a very quick car. There are still six races to go, 150 points available. Anything can still happen but Lewis is over a weekend and third place ahead.”

Newey also suggested that Vettel needs "at least one" Hamilton retirement, but the man himself has set a simple yet very tough goal.

"If we win every race from now on, we are safe. That must be the goal from now on," he told Auto Bild with doing that ensuring him the title by two points at the least.

Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri says he is "optimistic" a new Concorde Agreement can be reached between themselves and Liberty Media.

Since taking over from former chairman Sergio Marchionne, who tragically died in July, many have wondered if the new bosses at Maranello will maintain the same stance as their predecessor, who threatened to pull the iconic Italian brand out after 2020.

It appears based on the latest comments that the possibility hasn't completely gone away, and in general, the gap between Liberty and the teams remains quite large.

"Discussions are underway regarding technical regulations, all financial aspects and governance under the umbrella of a new Concord agreement," Camilleri was quoted as saying by Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"If we believe that there is a basic consensus on the principal objectives that will define the future, precise visions on how to get there are still quite distant.

"Progress has been made, but we are still far from an agreement that includes everything and can be signed by all the participants."

After initially wanting to dramatically overhaul many areas within F1 from the engines to finances and the race weekend format, many of those goals have been softened or restructured, with the current engines likely to remain due to a lack of manufacturer interest and a budget cap set to be phased in.

A first look at possible 2021 car designs did draw disappointment by the Scuderia, who considered them "old ChampCars", and for Camilleri, the same basic arguments put forward by Marchionne remain.

"I remain optimistic that an agreement will be reached on time, but I would like to add that as Ferrari we continue to insist that this cannot be to the detriment of the assurance that F1 remains at the top of motorsport's technical competition," he declared.

While that statement had no wiggle room, the CEO does see areas for negotiation with the F1 owners.

"There are obvious conflicts of interest, Liberty wants to earn more and the teams want to earn more, we are all a bit in waiting mode," he added.

"We don't just want to keep F1 as it is, on the contrary, we want to improve it. I don't how all these elements will get mixed, but I am hopeful that we will reach an agreement."

Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur claims the decision as to who will partner Kimi Raikkonen in 2019 will be made "soon".

Just before it was confirmed Charles Leclerc would be heading to Ferrari next season, the Finn surprised many by confirming he would be going the other way to the Swiss team.

It is believed, however, his move is not linked to the seat that the Scuderia can fill with one of their own academy drivers, therefore, that puts the future of Marcus Ericsson greatly under threat.

While the Swede will be hoping his financial backing and ties can win out, Antonio Giovinazzi is being strongly linked to a second chance, after stepping in for Pascal Wehrlein at the start of 2017.

"The last two weeks for me have been a bit of a rush on the driver market," Vasseur commented. "We will sit down with all the persons involved in the discussions and we will take a decision quite soon.

"I think it’s also good for the team to have a clear answer. It will be soon."

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The Frenchman also responded to those critical of the decision to take on Raikkonen, a 38-year-old veteran nearing the end of his career, over a younger driver desperately trying to make it on the grid.

"Clearly Kimi has huge experience in F1," said Vasseur. "For the team, we are building up every single department and I think he will be very supportive in the process.

"I think from aero to design office to track engineering, tyre management, I think everybody in the team is more than welcome to have Kimi on board in the future. It’s a step forward for us for sure.

"On the marketing and commercial side, for sure it’s a huge push. Have a look at what we had last week in terms of social media – it was probably the first time in our lives that we have so many connections.

"On both sides, I think it will be supportive for us," he insisted.

Former Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan believes Ferrari have taken the long-term view by promoting Charles Leclerc alongside Sebastian Vettel in 2019.

The Monegasque will become the youngest race driver for the Scuderia since Ricardo Rodriguez almost six decades ago when he lines up on the grid in Australia next March, replacing the Sauber-bound Kimi Raikkonen.

Though the Irishman concedes there might be a short-term risk associated with the move, he does see the likely benefits in the future when Leclerc would be expected to be a team leader.

"I have to ask myself one question, is Charles likely to get more points in the championship next season than Kimi would have? I wouldn’t bet on that," he said on Channel 4 in Singapore.

“However, could Leclerc be a world champion in the future? Absolutely. Perhaps Ferrari are thinking of a champion post-Vettel."

It is believed the 20-year-old, who was initially signed by then-chairman Sergio Marchionne before he tragically died in July, could be contracted to Ferrari until 2022, which is two years longer than Vettel.

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This week, Charles will step behind the wheel of the SF-71H at a Pirelli tyre test at Paul Ricard as the Italian supplier finalises compounds and constructions for next year with his future teammate taking over the other day.

Mercedes will also be in attendance with Valtteri Bottas driving.

The decision over who will drive alongside Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso in 2019 appears to have come down to two drivers, according to latest reports.

It is widely expected that the former Red Bull driver will be the man named when the junior team make their first confirmation at the Russian Grand Prix in a week's time.

However, his partner may not be announced for several months yet as the Austrian energy drinks giant look to promote their highest rated junior talent, Dan Ticktum.

Currently, the Briton is leading the European F3 championship which would go a long way towards securing enough points to qualify for a Formula 1 superlicence.

If he were to fail though, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko suggested the decision may wait "until winter testing" next February, allowing Ticktum to compete in the Winter F3 series to obtain more points.

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Should he fall short in that effort too, then Pascal Wehrlein is the name many expect to get the nod.

“I am looking for new challenges and opportunities, and am currently talking to other teams about a seat for next season,” the German said after recently cutting his ties from Mercedes.

The former Sauber driver was also believed to be an option to replace Brendon Hartley earlier this year when the Kiwi's seat was most under threat.