Lewis Hamilton believes his Mercedes team has been re-energised by its title battle against Ferrari, after three years of internal competition.
Mercedes dominated Formula 1 between 2014 and 2016, with Hamilton competing against team-mate Nico Rosberg for overall honours, a situation which caused their relationship to deteriorate.
Following three straight double championships, and 51 wins from 59 races, Mercedes has been challenged by Ferrari this year, under revised technical regulations.
Mercedes has taken three wins so far to Ferrari’s two, and Hamilton reckons his squad has been sparked back into life by the scrap.
“There’s just so much more excitement that we’re fighting against another team,” he said.
“[There’s] actually more passion and excitement being extracted from within the team, I’ve not seen this team so passionate and excited in the five years since I’ve been with them.
“It’s great for the sport and great for the fans; people come up to me about how excited they were about the last race. I watched the highlights and got the same feeling, so let’s hope that continues.”
Hamilton is also unsure how Mercedes will perform at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, a venue where he has triumphed twice, in 2008 and 2016.
“[The car was] very good in the last sector in the last race [in Spain], a slow section,” he commented.
“Does that mean it’ll be good here, where it’s mostly slow sections, or being that we have a long car does that mean we’ll struggle?
“Ferrari generally are able to switch their tyres on a bit easier than us, does that mean we’ll be in trouble this weekend or not? We’ll find out tomorrow.”
