Lewis Hamilton admits he needs to win a race in 2013 to get back on terms with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Whilst the British driver is 20 points ahead of the German, Rosberg has a win to his name, unlike Hamilton who’s best result is third.
“I need to get a win,” the Press Association quote him as saying.
He doesn’t believe that victory will come this weekend at the British Grand Prix – which he admitted will be a real challenge for tyre management.
“I’m not going to Silverstone thinking about the possibility of winning, not after witnessing the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull in Canada. They were massively quick.
“Sebastian [Vettel] was pulling away from me at a second per lap. We won’t have gained a second coming into this race, but we can definitely beat the rest.”
He’s confident they will have made a “small step” forward, but only time will tell whether it’s enough to cure the W04’s woes.
“We’ve made a small step in progress, but I don’t think we’ve cured it,” Hamilton added. “Silverstone will be a real challenge for us, so fingers crossed it’s not going to be a problem, but we’ll have to see.
“Tyre degradation could be an issue. Long run [pace] is going to be a challenge because there are lots of high-speed corners.”