Lewis Hamilton was vowed to be “aggressive” at the British Grand Prix as the Mercedes driver looks to turn his P5 start position into a race win.
Hamilton had high hopes heading into qualifying at the Silverstone circuit, the Briton believing a front row start position was on the cards.
However, rain late in Q3 put an end to that, Hamilton a second shy of Carlos Sainz’s P1 time leaving him P5 on the grid.
Despite starting behind both Ferraris and Red Bull drivers, the seven-time World Champion is hoping for better in Sunday’s grand prix where he reckons his updated W13 has the pace needed to keep up with F1’s top two teams.
“I’m hoping we’re a little bit closer on race pace compared to the last race and if we are, then if I can just hold on to them then maybe I can progress,” he told Reuters.
“I will definitely be aggressive, don’t worry.
“It’s not the worst position to start. In previous races, I would have been happy but this is the British Grand Prix and I was hopeful of more.
“I will try to pull something special out. I really appreciate the support here, the fans were amazing.”
Wow. That was cool 🙏 @LewisHamilton storming the Fan Zone stage 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Y7QRbEdsh4
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 2, 2022
“But we have a good race car,” Hamilton added, “so I hope we are closer to race pace.”
His team-mate George Russell will line up eighth.
Speaking earlier in the weekend Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said he was hopeful about the W13’s race pace after Friday’s action.
“Normally we see the sort of gap half a second, maybe even seven or eight tenths to the faster teams on a long run. And that didn’t look like it was there,” he said.
“Probably a bit it’s the circuit suiting the car.”
Mercedes have yet to clinch a race win this season and if Hamilton fails to cross the line first on Sunday he will set a new record for his longest stint without a race win, 11 races.
Mercedes are third in the Constructors’ Championship with 188 points, 40 behind Ferrari but 116 adrift of championship leaders Red Bull.
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