Hamilton is hungry for more as new Mercedes makes track debut at Silverstone

FORMULA ONE champions Mercedes ran their new car for the first time at Silverstone yesterday with title holder Lewis Hamilton saying he felt 2019 could turn out even better than last season.

With some other teams racing against time to get their new cars built and ready for the start of pre-season testing in Spain on Monday, Mercedes made sure they were on track in every respect.

Hamilton’s Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas performed the initial shakedown laps as part of a 100 kilometre filming day.

“I completely switched off from racing for a while, trying to focus and re-centre myself and training hard for the new season. 2018 was a great year, but I feel like 2019 can be even better,” Hamilton said.

“I want to achieve more, I want to continue to keep pushing. I feel energised and I’m ready to attack.”

The Briton won 11 races last year on his way to becoming only the third driver to win five titles and with a career tally of 73 wins is now only 18 off Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91. Hamilton has also won 51 of the 100 grands prix in the V6 turbo era that started in 2014 and four of the last five championships.

“The buzz really starts at the beginning of the year when you see the car coming together. And then you get to the shakedown and you get into the car – it just never gets old,” he added.

Mercedes have also won the last five constructors’ championships, but team boss Toto Wolff warned that rule changes could shake things up.