Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda hopes Lewis Hamilton can win in Singapore but has made Ferrari favourite to land the spoils.

Hamilton is back at the top of the Formula One standings after back-to-back Grands Prix victories at Spa and Monza and will head to the Marina Bay street circuit looking for a hat-trick of wins.

His battle with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel looks set to go right down to the wire and it may well be the German who is back at the top of the tree after the Far East event.

Lauda knows there is little between the top two teams and feels that the Italian marque may just have the edge in the former British colony.

"We won at Monza and that was a shame for Ferrari and their important event," he told Corriere dello Sport. "But in Singapore maybe Vettel will change things again.

"Many times Ferrari has been faster than Mercedes. At Spa Vettel was very close. Ok, at Monza perhaps a little less, but in my opinion this was due to a mistake in the Ferrari setup.

"Ferrari will be the favourite in Singapore, but on the other hand it is difficult to say who will win. I hope it is Hamilton."