Lewis Hamilton has claimed the Mercedes Formula 1 team is “all hands on deck” as it strives to close the remaining gap to its rivals to compete for wins this season.
The Briton capitalised on the marked strides Mercedes has managed during recent weeks to earn his maiden 2024 podium with third place in the Spanish Grand Prix.
Despite having qualified three-tenths from Lando Norris’ pole position time, Hamilton warned Mercedes would be unable to maintain speed with McLaren or Red Bull.
Hamilton’s assessment proved to be correct as a sluggish start saw him lose ground in the opening tours, resigning him to end 17.7 seconds behind Max Verstappen.
While he was delighted to break his podium drought dating back to last October, Hamilton stressed that Mercedes requires more updates to be right at the sharp end.
“A big boost to finally get a good result,” Hamilton expressed. “It’s been a minute since I’ve been up here in the race.
“So a huge, huge thank you to the team who have done an amazing job to, just with all the processes through the race, particularly going back to the factory.
“So working so hard the extra long hours to bring components to the car and we’re slowly, slowly getting closer.
“I mean last year we were very fast here, but so you have to take a little pinch of salt, but obviously the last couple of races have also been pretty competitive.
“So I think we have closed the gap a little bit, but we still have a good couple of tenths to try and find. So we’re just going to have all hands on deck and keep pushing.”
Hamilton denied that Mercedes could eradicate the existing gap, which boss Toto Wolff claims is “two-tenths” per lap, through fine-tuning the W15 in its current form.
“No, I think that’s the maximum it’s got at the moment,” he stated. “But I mean we’re always fine-tuning it with subtle changes that we make.
“So we are always fine-tuning it when we continue to tune it through the year. But we need to bolt some stuff on, some extra bits to be able to compete with these guys.”
However, the seven-time champion agreed that consecutive podiums show the German marque is building momentum as he targets consistently smooth weekends.
“We’re definitely getting more consistent,” he beamed. “And if I can just get my qualifying to be like this weekend, then it makes stuff so much easier. Also if you get a good start.
“But my Saturdays have been so bad for the last 15 races. So it’s good to have a clean weekend. And hopefully this puts us in a good position to challenge in the next few races.”
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