Hamilton full of anticipation: 'This is our biggest update of the season'

Lewis Hamilton always feels great at the Circuit of the Americas: the Briton finished second (behind Max Verstappen) there in '22 and '21 and triumphed in Austin six times before that. Beforehand, Verstappen is the big favourite for the upcoming United States Grand Prix, but Hamilton will undoubtedly draw good hopes from the significant update brought by his Mercedes team.

Without a single win this season, Hamilton has eyes on second place in the world championship. He is 30 points behind Sergio Perez, a bridgeable gap with five Grands Prix and two sprint races to go. In any case, Mercedes are doing their utmost to come out strong in the closing races of the season. A modified floor should be a step forward, team boss Toto Wolff said last week.

Hamilton himself is full of admiration for the effort his team has put into the final leads of the year. "This is our last big update, or biggest of the large updates through the season, and really excited to see how it feels. All the amazing people back at the factory worked incredibly hard during the whole season, and hopefully this kind of tips the needle a little bit and helps us in the right direction of where we want to pursue next year."

Hamilton hopes the update will give a look through to next season when Mercedes hopes to be closer to Red Bull Racing. That's the long term though, first this weekend. "I don't know exactly all the different parts of the circuit that I'll feel it, but hopefully it's a global improvement and hopefully, it puts us a little bit closer to the guys ahead."