Lewis Hamilton has said that it is too early too be considering a challenge for the Formula 1 drivers' title.

The Mercedes driver sits third in the rankings after the first four races of the 2013 season, having finished on the podium twice.

The 2008 world champion told Autosport: "It is far too early to start thinking about the championship. The fact that we can say we are even in the group that is fighting for the championship is a big bonus for us.

"We will have the same approach. We are trying to win, the approach we were having before was trying to win, and we have to take it one race at a time to try and improve.

"The guys are trying as hard as they can, so obviously if we were further back it would be easier to make bigger steps. Now we have a car that is quite competitive it is harder to make steps, improvement steps."

Hamilton joined Mercedes ahead of the 2013 calendar, having started his F1 career with McLaren.