After coming within six laps of winning last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has admitted that if the team could claim a victory from one of the final three races of the season, then the emotions would be “unmeasurable”.
It really was looking like Hamilton was going to break his and Mercedes’ 2022 duck at the Circuit of the Americas, after a slow pit-stop for Max Verstappen allowed the seven-time World Champion to build a gap of a few seconds.
Unfortunately for the 37-year-old, Verstappen was simply too fast, resulting in a second-place finish for the 103-time Grand Prix winner.
The result has nevertheless given the Silver Arrows some confidence, with the side “cautiously optimistic” ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
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Hamilton has won at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Circuit twice before; in 2016 and 2019; could a third be on the cards this weekend?
If Mercedes do win a race, it would represent a remarkable comeback, given the fact they’ve been almost two-seconds off the pace at some circuits this season.
A win would be a “blessing” according to Stevenage-born driver, who thinks his side “deserve success”.
“This whole circus – every team, and everybody in every team, has been working flat out this year,” Hamilton told Sky Sports on Thursday.
“In terms of who deserves more than another, I can comment only on my team, what I’ve seen, how hard and how deep everyone has been focused and incredibly determined
“Of course they deserve success. But this year we didn’t do the job that the others have done.
“It would be beautiful, such a blessing, if we did get a win. I think the emotions that would come out would be unmeasurable.
“But if it doesn’t come, that’s okay. We just take that energy that we feel – there is a huge amount of hope.
“We know where the car isn’t great and we know where to put it to make it better. So that’s what we are focused towards.”
Red Bull are once again tipped as favourites for this weekend, with Verstappen having claimed three victories at the Mexico City venue, with his most recent coming last season.
Given that the track is 2,200 metres above sea-level, the Brackley-based team are hopeful that their speed deficit will be masked by the high-altitude conditions, where, of course, the air is significantly thinner.
Hamilton is just hoping to be “in the mix again” in Mexico, after having “fun” at the front at COTA.
“Coming into this weekend, it’s high-altitude which forces everyone to be on maximum downforce, even the Red Bulls,” the Brit added.
“I don’t know if they are always the strongest with their max wing – we will see. They were very strong here last year so I anticipate they will be very strong this weekend.
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“I just hope we are in the mix again because it was really fun last week.
“I anticipate they’ll have the most powerful one [engine] this weekend because they have more deployment than everybody.
“They almost seem to have 100 percent deployment through the lap, whereas most other people are 70-80 percent.”