F1 news: Lewis Hamilton ‘truly believes’ in 2022 race win chances but Austria Grand Prix likely out of reach

AP
Marc Mayo7 July 2022

Lewis Hamilton “truly believes” Mercedes will win a Formula One race this year - but says the Austrian Grand Prix will likely be out of reach.

The seven-time world champion has not won around Red Bull Ring since 2016, his only F1 victory at the circuit, but does come into the weekend’s race off the back of consecutive podiums.

He said on Thursday: “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.

“I'm hoping that we're pleasantly surprised [on Friday] - 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.”

The Austrian Grand Prix will feature the second Sprint race of the season on Saturday and Hamilton comes into the weekend with optimism after Mercedes’ recent improvements.

Hamilton noted: “It was feeling like, ‘Jeez, there's a long, long way to catch everyone up knowing the progress everyone makes’. But definitely hugely encouraging.

“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. It was a good step in Barcelona, but then we had several difficult races following it.

“Then we just had these last two races which were quite strong and that's really encouraged us that we're moving in in the right direction and that there really is potential in the car.

“With a little bit more digging and a little more hard work, hopefully we can get closer to having a chance to win a race. So I truly believe we can win a race this year.”

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