Hamilton in 'amazing' Mercedes confession

Lewis Hamilton has insisted Mercedes has an “amazing” car this season as the team aims to unlock further potential in Australia.

Mercedes has endured a difficult past two seasons, slipping back in the pecking order following the introduction of new technical regulations in 2022.

Hamilton has failed to win a race in the current generation of car, with his last victory coming in the penultimate event of the 2021 campaign in Saudi Arabia.

The seven-time World Champion described last year’s W14 machine as an “evil sister” of its 2022 predecessor in Netflix’s Drive To Survive docuseries.

However, Hamilton has delivered a much more optimistic viewpoint of the W15, insisting: "It's definitely not the evil sister or anything like that,” Hamilton said.

"I think we have an amazing car, there's a lot of potential in it and I think we just haven't maximised it at the moment.”

Hamilton hoping for Melbourne 'step forward'

Hamilton has not had a happy start to the new season, finishing seventh and ninth in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively.

But the 39-year-old is confident that he can make a step forward this weekend around Albert Park, a circuit he has won at twice during his career.

“[Steps can be made] through set-up, through... ultimately [erasing] mistakes. We're obviously not happy with the performance at those first couple of races,” he said.

"But I think there's a lot more potential in it that we just haven't quite extracted yet. So that's what everyone's focus is on, just trying to understand the car.

"And we're hoping this weekend is a step forward. There's a huge amount of work that's gone on, everyone's heads are down in the numbers and I feel positive for this weekend.

“We’ve had two not such great races but there's a long way ahead."