Lewis Hamilton ‘truly believes’ Mercedes can win a race this season ahead of Austrian Grand Prix

Hamilton has been on the podium in the last two races and insists Mercedes have the pace to win a Grand Prix in 2022

Lewis Hamilton says you can’t argue with safety improvements (David Davies/PA) (PA Wire)

Lewis Hamilton says he “truly believes” he can win a race this season as he looks to maintain an imperious record of having won a Grand Prix in every season he has competed in Formula 1.

Since his debut in 2007, Hamilton has won a race in each of the past 15 seasons but has not finished above third in the first 10 races of the 2022 season.

With constructors’ champions Mercedes struggling to unleash the potential from their W13 car due to bouncing and porpoising, the Silver Arrows are currently third in this season’s Constructors’ Championship.

Yet after finishing on the podium in both Montreal and Silverstone, Hamilton insists that he can win a Grand Prix this year as Formula 1 heads to Austria for the second sprint weekend of the season.

“Yes, there was a long way back, earlier this year – I definitely wasn’t sure we would ever get a win in this car,” Hamilton said. “Obviously that’s not the way we like to think, but there was a feeling that ‘Jesus, there’s a long, long way we have to catch everyone’, knowing the progress that everyone makes.

“And then we just had this last race, or the last two races, which were quite strong, and that’s really encouraged us that we’re moving in the right direction that there really is potential in the car and, with a little bit more digging and a little bit more hard work, hopefully we can get a bit closer to having a chance at winning a race.

“So I truly believe we can get a race win this year.”

Yet the seven-time world champion admitted that the first win of the season would be tricky to obtain at the Red Bull Ring - a track where Mercedes have struggled in recent years.

“Definitely in Silverstone there was definitely potential to win the race,” Hamilton added. “But with our current performance we’re not on the same – exactly the same – level as the two teams ahead.

“We needed everything to align, so we didn’t need that Safety Car at the end; we needed not to have lost the time in the pit stop… in a perfect world if we didn’t have the crash at the beginning, I would have been third [into Turn 2]. So, I feel like things all happen for a reason. I think it was Carlos’s weekend. It was written that he’d get his first win there, which I’m really happy for him.

“And coming here, I think we’ve always struggled in Austria so it’s going to be hard to win here, I think, knowing the combination of the corners – but not impossible. The weather’s up and down so I’m hoping that we’re pleasantly surprised tomorrow – but I might be wrong. I’ll find out, but I’m staying hopeful and the best thing you do is to arrive hopeful and positive and navigate from there.”