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Lewis Hamilton believes Formula 1 is more competitive than ever before this season, and says he is all too aware of how difficult it will be to stay at the top of the championship table.

The eight races so far have produced five different winners, and the top five drivers in the standings are covered by just 19 points – less than the 25 points awarded for a single race victory.

Hamilton took over a slender three-point lead from McLaren team-mate Jenson Button with his second consecutive win in Montreal last weekend, but feels his Red Bull and Ferrari rivals could strike back at any moment.

“It's great to be leading the world championship, but, I have to be honest, Formula 1 is so tough and so competitive at the moment that you can't take anything for granted,” Hamilton told his official website.

“And while I might be on top right now, I know that I'll need to fight for every lap of the next 11 races to remain up there.

“I think I'm like the fifth leader of the championship so far this year, so it's pretty clear that it's not so easy staying on top.

“Our sport is so incredibly competitive at the moment – and we're seeing different teams come to the forefront all the time – that this championship is going to be as much about playing the long game – minimising mistakes, scoring points at every race – as it is about success at individual races.”

The 2008 champion reckons the intensity of the competition in F1 this year is unprecedented and is encouraging better, more aggressive racing.

“Whether it's the changes to the points system, or just the fact that there are maybe as many as 10 drivers out there with the machinery capable of winning races, you can't afford to just take the points,” he said.

“You've got to be on the limit all the time – and I love that, because that's how I love to race.”

McLaren was widely expected to be the team to beat on the low-downforce Montreal track, but – ominously for the opposition – Hamilton believes other circuits coming up will suit the MP4-25 even better.

“Montreal is quite an extreme circuit, and I think our strength was having a package that worked well against all those extremes,” he said.

“It was a good match, but it wasn’t a perfect one – we’d probably still look at other tracks coming up on the calendar as giving us a better opportunity to win.”