LEWIS HAMILTON has laughed off Christian Horner’s suggestion his Mercedes team bungled his chances of winning the British GP – but expects to end his drought soon.
Hamilton is on his longest-ever run without tasting victory, a total of 11 races, yet the 37-year-old is confident he will be back on the top step of the podium.
Lewis Hamilton at the Austrian Grand Prix
When quizzed if a win at Silverstone was scuppered by his Mercedes team – as per Red Bull boss Horner’s suggestion, Hamilton, who finished third, said: “I don’t really pay much attention to what is said by that guy [Horner].
“Did we get it perfect? Who knows? But I think we made the right decision and it was a really great weekend all round.
“It was really positive for us to start to see a little bit of consistency and to see us making progress.
“We were a long way back earlier this year. I definitely wasn’t sure that we’d get a win in this car.
“For a long, long time, we would make changes and not see it do what it says it was going to do and improve the car.
“But we just had these last two races, which were quite strong, and that’s really encouraging us in the right direction.
“With a little bit more digging and a little more hard work, hopefully we can get closer to winning a race, so I truly believe we can win a race this year.”
Hamilton, who has won a race in every one of his previous 15 seasons in F1, and while he is encouraged by his team’s improvements in Montreal and Silverstone, he does admit victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria might be a push this weekend.
Both Red Bull and Ferrari have quicker cars and should be more-suited to the characteristics of the track.
He added: “With our current performance, we’re not on exactly the same level as the two teams ahead.
“Things all happen for a reason.
“It was Carlos Sainz’s weekend and it was written that he would get his first win there, which I’m really happy for him.
“Coming here, we’ve always struggled in Austria, so it’s going to be hard to win here knowing the combination of corners, but not impossible.
“The weather is up and down. The best thing you can do is arrive hopeful and positive and navigate from there.”
