Hamilton: "We were around one second deficit on a single lap"

At Mercedes they are very happy with the speed in the races, but the qualifying really needs to be a bit better. In qualifying for the French Grand Prix, the gap to Red Bull Racing and Ferrari was greater than it was in Austria. Lewis Hamilton is curious to see how things will be this weekend in Hungary.

"We can't say we've turned the corner. We've been on the corner for ages and we've been progressing around it slowly. Silverstone was a great fight, we've had good consistency. In the last race, we took a step back or others took a step forward. We were around one second deficit on a single lap," Hamilton told in front of the Sky Sports camera.

However, the seven-time world champion sees light at the end of the tunnel. Hungary saw a double podium finish for the first time in 2022, the result of several strong Sundays in a row. "But our race pace is better and reliability is exceptional. We have also relied a little bit on others not finishing which overshadows that we still have a lot of work to do", he said. Hamilton knows the W13 is nowhere near good enough to win on its own.

Hamilton turns it around

Compared to the first few months of the season, the British driver is doing a lot better. Whereas George Russell has often had the upper hand, it is Hamilton who has turned the tide. The car is also more to his liking now. "I'm enjoying it more, because I'm getting better at the balance of the car and the set-up. Bono and the rest of the guys are happier too," said Hamilton, who knows motivation is high at his team.