“We had all those difficult races where we were struggling to even be in the top-10, so to see the turnaround… I had faith that we would do it at some stage, like we did in 2022 by Brazil, I thought at some stage we would get there. Did I know it would be by this time? Absolutely not.
“Everyone’s just worked so hard back at the factory, everyone’s stayed so motivated and focused, so it’s just a really good feeling to know that we can arrive and have a car that we can fight for points [with] now.”
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Hamilton, who won at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, sits sixth in the drivers’ standings, having scored just one point fewer than championship leader Max Verstappen over the last seven races, while Mercedes hold fourth in the constructors’ battle, 79 points behind third-placed Ferrari, 100 behind McLaren and 142 behind Red Bull.
Outlining his and the team’s targets for the remainder of the year, seven-time world champion Hamilton added: “I think for me, we’re just trying to build weekend in, weekend out, on our performance.
“If we can catch Ferrari in the constructors’, that would be an amazing recovery. If we can move into the top-five driver-wise, if I can get close to the top-three, I think that would be a good recovery.”
