Lewis Hamilton claims that for the first time in two years he has been given a positive feeling from a Mercedes upgrade.
Mercedes’ story is now well documented, with the team deciding to change its developmental direction at the start of the year after recognising it had exhausted its options with last season’s car following the introduction of new aerodynamic regulations.
Over the course of the current campaign, Mercedes has gradually increased its understanding of the car, with a revised floor on the W14s of Hamilton and George Russell for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
For Hamilton, at least, that propelled him into a rare fight for pole position on Friday evening at the Circuit of the Americas as it suggested the team had taken a step in the right direction.
Hamilton will start Sunday’s race from third on the grid behind polesitter Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Max Verstappen starts sixth in his Red Bull as his fastest lap overall was deleted for exceeding track limits.
Assessing the update, Hamilton said: “As we continue to experiment, we get more and more knowledge of where we are going, where we are routing the flow of the car.
“The floor is not a huge amount different, so it’s…There’s always hype with someone’s upgrade, but the rest of the car is exactly the same and there’s lots of areas in which we can improve.
“But this is an improvement. This is one of the first upgrades that I’ve actually felt over the last two years, so that’s a positive.
“We just need two or three times this step to put us in super-competitive mode, which I believe the guys can do.”
Hamilton goes into the latest sprint weekend 30 points behind second-placed Sergio Perez in the drivers’ standings.
After missing out on a major chance to close the gap further on Perez at the last race in Qatar due to the seven-time champion crashing out at Turn 1 following a collision with team-mate Russell, Hamilton has another significant opportunity this weekend with the Mexican starting a lowly ninth.
The 38-year-old is certainly not giving up on what would prove to be an end-of-season tonic.
“All of us are pushing to finish first, so it (second place) will be just a show of resilience, strength, and depth from our team,” said Hamilton.
“We had a difficult year last year, and even with the start to this year, we didn’t expect to be where we are, fighting for second in the constructors’.
“I don’t know whether or not we’ll catch Sergio, particularly given the difference in our cars throughout the season.
“But I’m really proud of the work we’ve done. We’ve just got to keep our heads down, keep fighting, keep pushing.
“It’s a race for development and who can get to the top of the mountain first for next year.”
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