Lewis Hamilton revealed that his pole position in Hungary earlier this year provided his Mercedes Formula 1 team with the hope that it can catch up to Red Bull at some stage.
Mercedes won eight straight Constructors’ titles between 2014-21, but an overhaul to the regulations last season ended its unprecedented reign at the top of the sport.
The German marque has only recorded one success in the past two years, with Hamilton, the all-time record holder for F1 wins, on a drought dating back to December 2021.
However, the Briton did manage to end his wait for a pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, when he usurped World Champion Max Verstappen by only 0.003s.
While he ended the race fourth, 33.6s behind Verstappen, Hamilton details how that minor triumph handed Mercedes a boost in its pursuit of cutting into Red Bull’s advantage.
“I think Budapest was the best moment of the year, a circuit that I love, in which somehow, we were able to dethrone the Red Bulls at a specific moment,” Hamilton said. “It gave us hope and the feeling that if we kept pushing, we would reach their level.
“When I drove the car for the first time in February, I never thought it was possible to achieve a pole.”
Having conceded that the decision to retain the ‘zeropod’ concept from last season was a mistake, Mercedes finally converged to the downwash sidepod solution in Monaco.
Mercedes then unveiled one final upgrade – a revised floor – in Austin which enabled Hamilton to come within a whisker of beating Verstappen to the race victory.
“With the improvement we made in Austin, with a couple more laps, we would have been in contention to fight for victory,” he asserts.
“This shows that we are turning this car, little by little, into a competitive machine. It is becoming a more pleasant car to drive and it is in a position where you can look more forward than behind.”
However, Hamilton acknowledges that those improvements failed to transcend Mercedes’ 2023 charger into one capable of challenging Red Bull after the side ended a year without a single victory for the first time since 2011.
With the Brackley outfit “changing every component” for next season, Hamilton is hopeful that his first experience of the 2024 car will not be similar to the troubled W14.
“The progress has been positive, but it is still not a car capable of winning races and that is what we have to change our face to 2024,” the seven-time World Champion highlighted.
“The dream is that when February starts next year, the car is not a replica of the 2023 car and feels the same, but I am sure that will not be the case.”
