Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel insist the F1 2018 world championship battle is wide open after Daniel Ricciardo's Monaco GP victory.
Hamilton saw his championship advantage cut to 14 points after finishing third behind Vettel in Monte Carlo, while Ricciardo's win lifted him to third in the standings.
All three drivers have now picked up two victories each this season and Hamilton expects the title fight to now intensify as the season progresses.
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Ricciardo enjoys Monaco redemption
"It is definitely a three-way fight," Hamilton said.
"Seb is still the strongest. Their car has worked well all season so far. But it is a three-way fight and Red Bull will continue to get stronger through the year."
He added to Sky F1: "I'm so grateful to be leading the championship. Last year I was 25 points down I think at this point.
"I lost three points to Sebastian and to only have that and not more, I'm grateful."
Vettel concurred with Hamilton, and believes the respective Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull team-mates could still have a big say in the final outcome.
"The battle is between all three teams and all six drivers," Vettel told Sky F1.
"It is very early still and a long way to go. For sure what we take today is the points."
Unlike Hamilton and Vettel, Ricciardo has suffered two race retirements so far and he still trails Hamilton by 38 points - the equivalent of a race win and podium finish.
Red Bull were able to dominate around Monaco's street circuit given the lower dependence on engine power but the Australian feels they need at least another victory before the summer break in order to be considered an "outside" contender.
"I think Lewis still has a pretty good buffer on me, so we're still on the outside of that. It's not impossible but not really at the forefront of my mind yet," Ricciardo said.
"[I'll] try to get a few more podiums but yeah, we've got to probably prove on at least one other circuit before the summer break that we can win again.
"And then maybe we're a nice little outside chance."