Lewis Hamilton is hopeful Mercedes’ next raft of car upgrades – the latest of which will be introduced at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix – will soon allow them to reproduce their stellar front-running British GP form on a regular basis.
Having gone 19 months without a win in F1, Mercedes head to Budapest’s Hungaroring chasing a third victory in succession after George Russell won in Austria and Hamilton triumphed at Silverstone.
Hamilton’s emotional win at his home race came the day after Mercedes had locked out the grid’s front row in a surprise qualifying one-two result.
Although Hamilton does not think the former champions are still yet on absolute terms with Red Bull and McLaren for pace, he believes they are not far away from joining them.
“There’s still a long, long way to go, but the car, by no means, is the car the quickest car on the grid right now,” said Hamilton, who had gone 56 races without a victory.
“I think we are super close, and I think hopefully with a couple of, with the next upgrade perhaps, we will be in an even stronger position to really, really be fighting at the front row more consistently.”
Since introducing upgrades onto the previously underperforming W15 at May’s Emilia Romagna GP, and then a new front wing for the following event in Monaco, Mercedes have found that their upgrade packages have finally been delivering what they hoped from them on trtck.
Only McLaren have outscored the Silver Arrows over the past six races, with Russell or Hamilton finishing on the podium over the past four weekends.
“We head into the upcoming double header with momentum,” said team boss Toto Wolff ahead of the Hungary-Belgium back-to-back that takes F1 into its early-mid August summer break.
“We have continued to make progress with the W15 in recent races. That has led to headline results in Austria and Silverstone.
“However, we know we don’t yet have a car that can challenge for victories every weekend. The team is working hard to bring more steps of performance that we hope will enable us to do that. Those efforts will continue over the next two races and right up until shutdown.”
Can Mercedes make it three in a row on past happy hunting ground?
Before Russell’s recent pole positions at the Canadian and British rounds, Mercedes had finished fastest in qualifying just twice since the current technical regulations were introduced into F1 at the start of the 2022 season – both times at the Hungaroring.
Indeed, Russell’s 2022 and Hamilton’s 2023 respective Budapest poles actually maintained an unbeaten qualifying run at the go-kart-like circuit which stretches back to 2020, the year Mercedes last won the race.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Hamilton’s own record at the Hungaroring is without equal – he has won the race eight times.
Wolff added: “The Hungaroring is different in character to the past couple of circuits. Unlike Silverstone, it features plenty of tight and twisty sections, with just one meaningful straight.
“It does contain some high-speed corners too however and it will therefore be another good examination of the gains we’ve made across the corner speed range.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
“We head into the weekend focused on doing the best job we can. We hope to maintain this positive trajectory and finish the first half of the season as strongly as possible.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule
Thursday July 18
1.30pm: Drivers’ Press Conference
Friday July 19
8.50am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Hungarian GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
2pm: F3 Qualifying
3pm: F2 Qualifying
3.45pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5:15pm: The F1 Show
Saturday July 20
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
Source : Sky Sports
