Toto Wolff says he is insipired by the Mercedes team's approach to this year's Formula 1 championship battle in the face of fresh pressure from Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel.

Mercedes has swept to the last three F1 constructors' titles with relative ease, but has faced its toughest challenge yet through the V6 turbo era in 2017 after a resurgence from Ferrari over the winter.

Mercedes currently leads the teams' standings by 55 points, but it is Ferrari's Vettel who heads up the drivers' table, sitting one point clear of Lewis Hamilton.

"Both championships are very much in the balance right now," Wolff said ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

"The points tables show that we have a small buffer in the constructors' race and a small deficit on the drivers' side. But that's not important at this stage - there are no prizes awarded for the half-time champions.

"Our approach is to take it weekend by weekend, to build our performance at each circuit in a calm and logical way and to keep pushing. The time for worrying about the points will come later.

"What I see when I walk the corridors of our factories is an energy and determination like never before. It is inspiring to see how our team is tackling this championship battle."

Looking back on the opening 10 races of the year, Wolff spoke warmly of the way in which Mercedes has turned the lessons of defeats into stronger displays.

"The first half of the season was a mixed one for us. From the first test, it was clear we had a real fight on our hands with Ferrari - and soon we could see this might become one of the classic seasons," Wolff said.

"It was a bumpy start for us as we didn't quite find the right set-up window to make our car function. Then we had a bad weekend in Monaco - like always, you learn much more from your defeats than your victories.

"We used that learning in the right way and, from that point, we started to turn things around."