LEWIS ON FOR HAPPY HOLS
LEWIS HAMILTON is confident of going into his summer holidays leading the world championship as he hunts a sixth career win in Hungary this weekend.
The Brit is one point behind title leader Sebastian Vettel after a dominant win at his home Grand Prix at Silverstone two weeks ago.
And the three-time world champion expects to hit the front now his Mercedes team have overcome a rocky start to the campaign. “I think we’re still showing we are the best team,” said Hamilton.
“It’s been great work by the team collectively – and we’ve not even brought many updates to the car.”
Vettel steered his Ferrari to victory in two of the season’s opening three races – yet has managed just one podium finish in the past four outings.
However, the German dismissed the idea that he must win in Hungary, despite the momentum swinging to Mercedes. “I’m not stressing too much,” he said.
“On paper, it should be a good race for us. I like the track. We know what we have to do.
“The fact that it’s the last race before the summer break doesn’t change anything.
“Rest assured, we weren’t happy with Silverstone but we have some bits here that should help us.”
Hamilton will draw level with record holder Michael Schumacher if he claims his 68th pole position tomorrow. And Hamilton believes more success beckons for Mercedes.
“We’ve mostly had the upper hand in qualifying,” he said.
“If you look at the qualifying stats, we’ve had that gap – then the race gets a little bit closer and it’s been a bit more scattered through the 10 races.
“But we’ve definitely managed to understand the car better, understand the tyres better and really start to utilise the car.”