Lewis Hamilton won’t commit to predicting a Mercedes win in the second half of the F1 season, but the Briton has a clear target for what he wants to achieve in the coming months.
Mercedes has but a single win to its credit in the last 34 races, courtesy of George Russell’s win in last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Red Bull's current supremacy has relegated its rivals to a secondary role in the championship, but so far Mercedes is leading the charge behind the bulls ahead of Aston Martin and Ferrari.
The Brackley squad's campaign enjoyed a boost after Monaco where the team rolled out a heavily revised W14 and additional updates have since delivered incremental benefits.
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But overall, Mercedes and its rivals remain well adrift from Red Bull’s all-conquering RB19 which so far remains on course to deliver a 100 per cent success rate to the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
Can Mercedes still upset the bulls’ supremacy and pull off a win on merit by the end of the season?
©Mercedes
“At the moment, I'm not quite sure we can currently compete with [Red Bull] on race pace,” replied a cautious Hamilton at Spa recently.
“I think there were times in [Hungary] Max was around eight tenths faster than everyone on a single lap. But never say never.”
“I think it's been decent,” the seven-time world champion added when asked to assess the first half of his season.
“We didn't start where we wanted to be at the beginning of the year, but we just made a lot of progress.
"It's been a huge amount of progress over the season so far and hoping that there'll be a lot more in the second phase.”
©Mercedes
In terms of improvements, Hamilton singled out two main weaknesses that remain embedded in Mercedes W14 and which must be addressed.
"The balance, we've still got to work on. And we need more downforce, as we always do,” he said.
"But I know everyone back at the factory is head-down focused on doing that.
Come what may in terms of Mercedes’ improvements, Hamilton says his specific target for the back-half of his season is to uphold his team’s runner-up spot in F1’s Constructors standings.
“My full focus is on to try and secure second for the team,” he said.
"I think for everyone back in the factory it means a huge amount for them. And whilst we can't currently catch the Red Bulls, I think that puts us in a good position for next year.
“With all the amazing work that goes on through winter, we kind of started further behind and so it's been a big, steep, uphill climb. But really proud of the team.
“We're fighting for second in the constructors’ championship, which is definitely something we didn't expect after what we felt at the first test.
“And that's really down to the great teamwork that's happening in the background.”
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