Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes are close to a first win of the season after their promising performances before the F1 summer break. Despite a difficult start to the campaign, Mercedes are widely believed to have closed the gap to 2022 pace-setters Red Bull and Ferrari. Prior to the four-week summer break, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell helped Mercedes to consecutive double-podium results. Russell took the team's first pole position of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and Hamilton has taken a podium in each of the last five events. For Hamilton, a victory in 2022 will help maintain his own record of having achieved a victory in every F1 season since he made his debut in 2007. Prior to the Belgian GP, Hamilton was asked if he believes Mercedes are close to a victory this season. "I do, definitely," Hamilton said to media, including RacingNews365.com . "I think we've been improving, we've had this consistency that's come up in the recent races, and there's great progress that the team is making, everyone pulling together and continuing to push."
Hamilton: W13 finally becoming a 'racing car'
Mercedes might also be helped by the implementation of a Technical Directive at the Belgian GP. Technical Directive 039 aims to close a loophole where excessive flexing of the car floors was ostensibly seen on the Red Bulls and Ferraris. If restricting this design avenue reduces the pace of the two front-running teams, then Mercedes will be the first to take advantage. Focusing on the W13's performance, Hamilton continued to say that Mercedes' developments have helped the car feel more "normal". "The car is becoming more of a racing car, which is not particularly what it was the beginning of the year, more like a normal racing car in the sense of its characteristics, so that's positive," added Hamilton. "The last race was obviously the best showing that we've had so far, and that for us was a huge boost just [showing] that we can close that gap. "It's naturally going to continue to be tough, but we will keep our heads down. The other guys are doing an amazing job, but I do believe that we can close the gap."
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